When the Heart Rules the Mind
by I.C. Weener
Summary: The perfect weapon for an imperfect shoujo manga.
1. The Trouble with Shellshock

_"It rides with me."_

 **\- Michael Payton, Viper**

* * *

Two distinguished guests had arrived at Mount Taikyoku. Taiitsukun waved her veiled arm, motioning her small servants down from the shrine's rows of burning incense and toward the visitors. Giggling Nyan-Nyans hovered in circles around Uruki—the Crown Prince of the Hokkan Empire, and Yumiko Kata—the newly appointed Priestess of Genbu.

Uruki was an elegant man of gorgeous beauty. His slender body, dressed in Hokkan's best royal finery. His face, groomed to perfection by soft court ladies' hands. His flowing bronze hair was tied down his back in a braid. He carried himself like the kind of man who would rather write a sonnet than fight on the battlefield, but a quiet and wisely restrained determination burned in the back of his eyes. A single look into his eyes was enough to capture any woman's heart.

Yumiko was a like goddess incarnate. The craftsmanship of her long, flowing turtle green Priestess gown was rivaled only by the soft vibrancy of her serpent hazel eyes. Her silk black hair was braided up in a pair of traditional loops above her ears, with two loose strands hanging down the front of her shoulders. She was a delicate and quaint natural beauty who looked like she belonged in this world as much as her own. Peace and prosperity twinkled in her eyes, the kind that could end wars and soothe any man's soul.

The two stood so close together that her head was almost resting against his shoulder.

"Welcome, Priestess of Genbu," Taiitsukun said from her meditation seat. She spoke with a warm voice that had been waiting countless ages to say the words. "You must be so confused why you're here."

Yumiko nodded nervously.

"I just want to know what I need to do," she said like a tiny green nightingale afraid she would never be let out of her cage.

"There's no reason to be afraid, Priestess. Your arrival here is a blessing," the sage said. "You can't imagine how important you'll become to this world. The Priestess of Genbu is a position of highest honor to everyone in the Hokkan kingdom. And look at you! You've already found one of your Celestial Guardians! You're well on your way to fulfilling your duty and having your three wishes granted. The power of Genbu can only be tamed by a gentle virgin from the outside world."

"I'm pregnant," Yumiko whispered shyly.

The Nyan-Nyans squeaked like surprised mice. Taiitsukun shrank back in her seat in panic.

"You're _wha_...? There… there must have been some mistake!" she stammered, holding her draping sleeve to her mouth. "Genbu would never bring a young mother here!"

"It's Uruki's baby," Yumiko added. Her eyes meekly peered away.

Taiitsukun shuddered in even more alarm.

"But you're… he's… the two of you are…" she struggled to keep her composure.

"I love him." Yumiko's lips lifted into a tiny smile. Taiitsukun grunted out of the corner of her mouth.

"You've only known each other for a month."

"But it already feels like a lifetime," Yumiko said with innocent affection. "I was so scared when I was first brought here. I didn't know anyone. I didn't know where I should go. I thought I'd never see my family and my friends again. I felt like this whole world was against me. But I met Uruki at the palace, and he was so kind. He assigned some of his own guards to me to keep me safe until I could figure out how to get back home. Me, just some strange girl wandering around the streets babbling about an alternate dimension. He was there to keep me company whenever I felt lonely, even though he had so many more important things to worry about. I felt so much safer when I was around him. He felt the same way about me. And then we… became closer. I offered to become his concubine so I could always be with him. Everyone in Hokkan loved the idea."

Yumiko blushed.

Half of the Nyan-Nyans stuck out their tongues and made "Eww" faces. The other half cheerfully twirled in circles clapping their hands like tiny cymbals and chanting " _Miko's gonna be a mommy!_ "

"This… this is an outrage!" Taiitsukun reviled in horror. "Women from the parallel world can't have children with men in this world! The child violates the nature of the universe itself simply by existing!"

The sage barked toward her miniature celestial handmaids.

"Nyan-Nyans, get the fresh linens! Take her to the bedchamber and make sure she's comfortable!"

Her eyes switched toward Yumiko again. She softened her voice and spoke out of pity.

"Don't worry, Priestess. We'll have that abomination out of you in no time."

Yumiko placed one hand over the robes covering her waist. She flailed her other hand through the air, swatting away the Nyan-Nyans as if they were floating green-haired mosquitos. They scattered after a few warning swings.

"It's not that simple," Yumiko said hesitantly to Taiitsukun. "This is Uruki's firstborn successor. If you do anything to hurt the baby, by law it's…"

"…the same as trying to assassinate the Crown Prince himself," Uruki growled as he pulled Yumiko protectively into his arms.

Taiitsukun blinked with widened eyes. She was speechless.

"The two of you…" she muttered toward Uruki.

"You're really…" she muttered toward Yumiko.

"Bah, mortals and their senseless romance," she shook her head in defeat. "Genbu be damned. I knew he should have gone after the one with the ribbon."

Her voice turned into a bitter grumble.

"I'll tell you one thing, girl. Your purity might be tarnished, but your libido deserves an honor of its own."

"We didn't know the rules," Yumiko sadly apologized. "But it will be okay. The next girl who gets pulled into the book can become the Priestess. I don't care if she gets my three wishes. I'll always miss my world, but my only wish is to be with Uruki for as long as he needs me."

The Priestess and her guardian gazed toward each other with tender eyes. Taiitsukun lowered her head and sighed.

"You're not seeing the whole picture, Priestess. There isn't going to _be_ a next girl thanks to your little moonlight rituals," she said. "The Priestess of Genbu is meant to serve as the bridge between our two worlds and set the cycle into motion. Byakko, Seiryuu, Suzaku. They're all powerless until they get their turn, and each god can only bring one Priestess into this universe. None of the other Priestesses can be called upon until Genbu is summoned first, and now he'll never be summoned. If you can't complete your duty, no one else will."

"Then… maybe this is for the better?" Yumiko pondered with uncertainty. "Even if I'm never able to go home, me being trapped here might save other girls from facing even more grief."

"You have no idea." Taiitsukun knowingly rolled her eyes.

* * *

 _Author's note: Well. That escalated quickly._


	2. Gung Ho

" _But just a little today, I feel like a lost kitten. If you approach me with kindness, I might just have to follow you. Nyao."_

 **\- Fushigi Yuugi**

" _I didn't know you scared so easily."_

" _Stupidity? You have a positive phobia."_

 **\- James McCaffrey and Jason Carter, Viper**

* * *

The clear silk curtains high in the temple windows fluttered in the turbulent wind, blowing in the path of the light from the ceiling candles and casting a quick red sheen over the stormy clouds. Lightning boomed in the tall windows in a white flash. The freezing wind streamed down the pillared walls and toward the temple floor, where a towering sculpture was arranged on an altar.

Carved from gold and jade, the sculpture depicted a massive turtle crouched forward in defense while its mate, a colossal snake, protectively wrapped around the turtle's shell and reared its fangs for attack. The statue was mighty, magnificent, and imposing. But somehow, it also seemed lonely.

Three huddled figures in long green gowns were arranged around the front and the sides of the altar on their knees. Small white-haired shrine servants prayed with their palms flattened together and the tips of their wrinkled fingers pointed upward towards the Heavens. Had there been a fourth in their ranks, she would have completed a perfect square around the sculpture with the other three. But the northmost side behind the altar, which sat at the head of the temple proper, was empty.

These women were unfazed by the storm flowing violently into the temple, unaffected by the trying and uncertain world surrounding them. They continued waiting in silent patience and faithfulness, just as they had done every day for almost two decades. Uninterrupted sleep and prayer were the only lives they knew.

Something changed at that specific moment. A tiny, insignificant, and unlikely ripple could be felt in the aura of the universe by the few who were attuned to notice it. Carriages crashing, hundreds of voices screaming, glass panes shattering, and metal crumbling could be heard in a single instant by those who could listen to the flow of time, but the horrible noise was all backwards.

The servant kneeling toward the face of the ferocious statue stoically lifted her eyes toward her two other elder companions while keeping her head tilted in prayer. She said only two words.

"She's here."

The curtains in the windows blew over the path of the glowing candles again as the wind picked up, covering the sky in another sudden red sheen.

 **Day 1**

Lightning cracked through the black sky over billowing sheets of rain. The damp pounding of footsteps chased Yumiko down the flooded street like four stampeding horses. She never looked back, never slowed down as she felt their smoldering rotten breath still creeping down her neck.

Her lungs felt like they were being shredded by broken glass. Her heart was racing like it was about to burst out of her chest. Her school uniform was soaked in freezing mud and water. Her long black hair stuck to her shoulders like snake scales. Rain and tears streamed down her face as she fled. The horror of how she wound up like this vividly flashed through her vision.

Only a minute ago, they had her thrown against a crumbling concrete wall with knives at her throat. Two of them held her struggling wrists down while the third pulled at the buttons of her uniform blouse. The forth leaned toward the wall with his dirt-covered fingers grasping her by her jaw and his knee grinding between the pleats of her miniskirt.

They whispered how much fun they were going to have with her, how nice she smelled, how tasty she looked, what kind of pretty coin they could fetch for her strange dress after they skinned it off her. Their eyes were hidden by darkness and terror. Their teeth gleamed like crooked yellow fangs as they grinned. The outfits they wore were little more than long rags with cloth belts.

The sky was pitch black and barely visible from the dilapidated paper awning they had pulled her under. The only light was a dim red lantern hanging in the corner of the alley, desperately trying to stay lit as it swung in the wind of the massive storm.

The gang's low taunting voices were masked by the piddle-paddle of rain striking the paper over their heads. Her screams would be drowned under the deafening thunderclaps.

In defensive impulse, Yumiko smashed the toe of her leather school slipper into one man's groin and sent the one to her left sprawling with a frantic uppercut. One of the knives flew out of thugs' hands, scraping past her face and leaving a shallow cut between her cheek and her ear.

Yumiko used her tiny opening to squirm out of the gang's reach. She ran back down the alley, fleeing out of the red light and back into the main dirt road, blood dripping between her fingers as she squeezed the nick on her cheek. The four flew behind her, screaming at the little whore to stop, threatening to pay her back once they caught her. Their raging lust turned into a murderous frenzy.

Yumiko slipped and stumbled through the muddy street as she ran from the gang, desperately praying to anyone who was listening not to let her fall completely.

Half an hour ago, she'd been working on her homework.

The Tokyo National Library was always the best place for Yumiko study, but this Tuesday afternoon wasn't doing her any favors. She stared at the daunting Intro Trig worksheet on her table feeling crushed and abandoned. Everything on the crisp white page was an incoherent blur aside from the name KATA YUMIKO scribbled in pencil in the upper right corner. History and Literature were always her favorite subjects, while Math was perpetually the pits. Her wandering imagination made the lines in the geometric diagrams turn into the pillars and corner stones of some ancient forgotten temple. The curved lives in the graphs became an elegant natural landscape that had since been ruined by thousands of years of industrialization.

Her imagination always had a habit of acting up like this, but only when she was _really_ starting to lose focus. Her brain was telling her she needed a break.

Yumiko slipped out of the study room while being silent and respectful toward the other library patrons at the tables. She paced down the hallway to a public vending machine, drawn to the sweet refreshment of caffeine. Her eyes honed straight on the button for Pepsi.

She dug to the bottom of her school bag for a 100 yen coin, only to clumsily drop it on the ground almost as soon as it was in her hand. She crouched to the floor shaking her head and expressing her disbelief in herself.

Yumiko blinked as she reached for the coin. It flashed green in front of her fingers, casting an emerald reflection in her eyes for a second. She heard the soft sound of beads shaking from somewhere far away, instantly making her think of her parents shaking a rattle over her crib back when her life was first starting out, or the shaking tail on an angry rattlesnake about to kill her. She glanced around for an explanation, seeing no one else in the hallway or at any of the study tables reacting to whatever she had heard. She slipped the coin back into her bag and began searching for the source of the noise, putting her need for sugar on hold for a second.

She eventually made her way through two reference sections, up a flight of custodial stairs, and down an empty hallway normally closed off for restoration projects. She could have turned back any time she wanted, but she chose to follow her curiosity.

She heard the rattling beads again, now much closer and more distinct. She decided it was the nice kind of rattling that used to put her to sleep when she was little. Her only guess was the universe was trying to tell her she was about to become a googling drooling infant again, but she had no idea what that meant.

Yumiko walked into a small room for books in long-term storage, slowly making her way down the narrow space between two tall shelves. She brushed past crumbling reference tomes and first editions of classics nobody remembered, looking for anything that caught her attention.

On the middle right shelf was a medium-sized book with a red cover that stuck out half an inch from the others. Yumiko stood on her toes and carefully pried the book down from the shelf by its spine. The cover was faded when she inspected it in her hands, but she could just make out the original foreign title etched into the leather binding.

 _Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho._ The Four Gods Earth and Sky.

Sometimes it paid off to be what the other people at her school considered "quirky." Yumiko always had a natural fascination for understanding what the world used to be, especially when it came to the ancient Far East. While other girls were busy shopping, she'd be visiting the shrine on the hill three blocks up from her house practicing her archery. While everyone else was sleeping or binging on cold pizza in the early hours of a Saturday morning, she'd be out on her rural cousins' farm trotting along the open acres on horseback. Two skills equally worthless in the modern world, but hobbies that helped her feel closer to history. She could be withdrawn and odd to be around sometimes, but she didn't mind the simpler life, aside from the fact it hurt her boyfriend prospects. She just hoped the same things that sparked her creativity weren't also slowly driving her crazy, making her hear imaginary sounds and see magic invisible lights.

Yumiko turned the first page to the mysterious manuscript's prologue. She unconsciously read the beginning of an archaic incantation in a soft breath and plummeted through a tornado of freezing rain.

She had no idea where she was going as she fled from the street thugs. Every time she came to another divide in the street, she'd turn the first direction her instincts told her and continue fleeing down the next unfamiliar road. In all of her terror and desperation, she didn't notice the footfalls abruptly slowing behind her and leaving her to run by herself. She had made it all the way to the city's Forbidden Palace section on foot. It was a sacred place prohibited to everyone except royalty and clergy, but she had no way of knowing that yet. The men hunting her down may have been vicious bloodthirsty pigs, but they still followed the local traditions.

Yumiko gave up her flight only when she ran straight into a dead end and she was too senseless with fear to find her way out. She pounded her fists on two massive doors armored with ironwork that resembled a tower of black tortoise shells, sobbing hysterically and screaming for help.

Falling to her knees, she was overtaken by shock, exhaustion, and hypothermia. Her world blurred and turned to darkness as she collapsed face-down into a puddle.

 **Day 2**

"…poor thing was soaked all the way through. It's a miracle she didn't die from the chill."

An elderly woman's gentle voice floated through Yumiko's numb ear as she stirred out of her nightmares. Her eyes opened to a weak blur. The ceiling was a blur. To her sides were a blur. She heard dozens of hushed voices echoing from her right, but her ears were ringing too loudly to make out anything distinct.

She squinted, and saw their faces. Young women leaning closely over her with the old lady acting as their chaperone. Behind them, towering men with trimmed dark beards and pointed mustaches watching her. She was lying in a large bed with the fuzzy implications of a glamorous bedroom around her. To her left, she saw the open air of a balcony railing. Beyond that was only dark nebulous overcast with storm clouds drifting away.

The last time she was conscious, she was wearing her drenched uniform adding what felt like 30 pounds to her weight. Now she felt like she was wearing nothing. Curious and fretful for an answer, she peered under her sheet and saw she was dressed in dark forest green, with something like an ornate bed robe tied around her waist and modestly double-insulated around her breasts. Most of it was pure natural silk and it covered her like a loose curtain. No wonder she felt naked.

The voices coming from the crowd began to rise and speak more frequently as she reacted to her surroundings. Their face expressions were equally divided into groups of confused, fascinated, and suspicious. Yumiko pulled her kneels up to her chin and tucked her head down the way a frightened turtle hides in its shell.

"Relax, darling," the old maid said sweetly. "You had to be changed out of those odd frocks you were wearing for your own good. Don't you feel much more comfortable this way?"

Yumiko didn't want to think about anything that was happening. She was still too exhausted and feverish to think. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep, but her terror wouldn't let her.

The group parted down the middle, and then a single person was looming close to her side. Yumiko turned her buried head to see a soft-faced bronze-haired young man dressed in garments so fine they could only belong to royalty. He gazed back at her with nothing but concern for her wellbeing.

The moment their eyes met, a barrier between worlds was torn down.

Yumiko let her knees drift back down under the sheets. Her lips moved, but it took a minute to find her lost voice.

"Your highness… majesty… Whatever," she finally got part of what she wanted to say out.

"Limdo Rowun, Crown Prince of Hokkan, at your service," the young man said. He took her strange stammering words with a playful smile.

"You're not the king?" Yumiko asked.

"No. That's my uncle," he shook his head. "He thought we should keep you out on the street. Will you tell me your name?"

She nodded slowly, and simply said "Yumiko." The look in his eyes said it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

The Prince noticed the small cut along her cheek. He slowly held his arm a few inches away from her face, sensing she was delicate and careful not to bring her any more trauma. With her courage returning, Yumiko weakly took his wrist and brought his hand the rest of the way to her cheek. He stroked her face with downwards motions in his fingertips, massaging away the wounded sting in her skin and the worries haunting her mind. Her breathing became calmer and quieter. She closed her eyes halfway and purred in comfort.

The Prince had never felt silk as clean and soft as hers. She truly must have been a creature from the heavens.

Keeping his fingers to her cheek, Limdo turned toward the others in the room.

"I want her guarded all hours of the day. No one lays a finger on her on my watch. If she's tired, let her rest. If she's restless, give her free passage through the palace. If she feels ill, fetch her the court physicians. If she's hungry, the chefs will prepare anything she asks for. If she needs to wash or relieve herself, the maids will make sure she's looked after. Treat her with the same dignity and respect as any other guest here."

Yumiko felt safe even without hearing everything the Prince was saying. She watched his lips moving, but his voice was in an alternate dimension. Something in her heart told her she had nothing to worry now that he was keeping an eye on her.

Her eyelids dropped the rest of the way as she sank back into her pillow, falling into a peaceful recuperative slumber.

 **Day 3**

Yumiko woke up to bright yellow sunlight. She rubbed her forehead and felt her fever was almost over. She had grown a hundred times stronger compared to the previous day, but fragments of her thoughts still lingered in the dark.

She was alone in the room and her eyes were finally working right, letting her see how luxurious it really was. Large water paint scrolls depicting turtles and snakes decorated the walls. There was a wooden wardrobe long enough to hold a month's supply of different extravagant robes. A desk was set up near her with small round openings around its top frame. At first she mistook it for a writing table with spaces for storing pencils. Then her mind leapt out of her own time and into her history readings, and she realized it must have been a small prayer altar with openings for hanging incense. Everything in the room was deliberately furnished with a black, green, and gold palette.

She gazed out over the balcony, where the horizon was perfectly clear and a whole world was laid out at her bedside. It was an entire kingdom carved out of ornate woodwork. Temples and pagodas stretched into the distance. All of the architecture shared the same shell-structured roofing with each of their corners curved upward. She couldn't find the central palace of this society anywhere in the maze in front of her, leading to deduce she must have been inside of it.

So the book had brought her back to Ancient China. Or at least somewhere that looked a lot like it.

Yumiko was feeling better, but there were still so many things worrying her. Would she ever get home, or would she be a grainy black and white face on a milk carton for the rest of her life? What was her family doing right now without her? What would her friends from school think of her?

Her vivid imagination conspired against her, making her think of her parents and her siblings crying in grief over a portrait of her, a Missing Persons ad, or a book she never finished reading. They would never understand if she ran away because she hated them, or if something worse happened to her. What if she never even got a chance to say goodbye?

She sat with her head low and her hair in front of her face, squeezing her nails through the sheets bunched in her lap. Warm tears struck the backs of her hands.

The door to the bedroom opened with the softest creak. Limdo walked toward her with a sympathetic gaze, almost as if a mystic intuition drove him to make sure she was alright. She sniffled and rubbed her eyes when she noticed him enter.

The Prince offered her his undivided attention, crouching to the side of her bed on one knee. He tilted his head closely as he became lost in her gaze. He squinted as he carefully watched her reactions like a biology teacher. Then he found the realization deep in her eyes.

"You're her," he whispered.

Yumiko quickly glanced back and forth, wondering if there were any other hazel-eyed pretty girls next to her.

"I'm who?" she blinked.

"The Priestess of Genbu. You must be her."

He kept his words soft as he shared everything he knew.

"There's a prophecy that says the god Genbu would send us a messenger from the heavens to carry out his will. My uncle always scolded me for trying to follow the legends. He called them worthless fairy tales. He always said the only thing a man should focus on is preparing for war."

His expression slowly changed. Simply looking at her made joy shine on his face.

"After all these years, I was almost about to give up hope. But you appearing here must be a sign. You're a blessing to all of Hokkan."

"I don't even know what I'm doing here, Prince Rowun," Yumiko said, questioning her own worth.

"Just Uruki will be fine. Everyone in this part of the palace calls me by my star sign," he said. "I'm the one who should be paying you respect."

The Prince set himself on the edge of Yumiko's bed so he could be closer to her. He opened his arms to comfort her, and she took the offer by tucking her head beside his. He could feel her trying to hide her shivering. He buried his face in her hair so she couldn't see him gritting his teeth over her plight.

"Yumiko," he said delicately to her ear, "I hardly know you, but it breaks my heart there's nothing more I can tell you. I promise if I can't find a way to send you back to your home, then I'll do everything in my power to help you make this world your home."

She leaned back so he could see her face again, showing him her gratitude.

"This prophecy…" she said meekly. "If you really think that's why I'm here, then I'll try to be your Priestess. I feel like you're the only one I can trust."

They wrapped their arms around each other in a long hug, giving her the comfort she needed and the resolve he yearned for. Wanting to share more affection, Yumiko raised her head and closed her eyes. At the same moment, Uruki closed his and leaned down so his nose almost rubbed against hers. She timidly sealed the distance between them so their lips could meet and their tongues could slowly learn to waltz. They ended their time together with an innocent and caring kiss.

 **Day 4**

Yumiko was anxious to explore more of the Hokkan kingdom for herself. As soon as her feet touched the floor beside her bed and she called out to see if anyone was around to help her get dressed, half a dozen loyal and attentive Hokkan ladies-in-waiting came shuffling through the room. Each one was carrying a different basket combs, hand mirrors, sewing utensils, and makeup puffs.

Yumiko became friendly with the servants while they were bathing her and grooming her for her first real day out in the palace. Cheerful and talkative, they told her about how the Crown Prince had become like a man renewed. She learned how stressful and troubled Uruki had been until just recently, before she showed up on his doorstep like a little lost kitten and something in his heart changed. Her thoughts gradually moved away from obsessing over how she could get back to her world and turned to how she could be helpful while she was in this one.

She politely said no when they asked her if she'd like to change back into her school uniform.

Yumiko always wore her smooth raven hair straight down, but now she let her energetic hairdressers play with her locks and experiment with all sorts of combinations of Asian braids, buns, and loops. A little bit of jade and opal foundation around her eyes made all the difference. They turned her from a blank slate 20th century academy student to a twinkling gem of the lost Orient with hardly any effort. Yumiko didn't know if she should be thanking the maids' amazing talents or her own natural looks.

Then there was the matter of her Priestess robes. They were an endless collection of trailing silk skirts and draping silk sleeves, elongated or abbreviated for every season of the year and every possible ceremonial function. Meticulous embroidery covering every inch. Sashes made of gold foil stitched with emerald threads. All manner of elegant and elaborate hair ornaments, encouraging Yumiko to routinely change her style.

Each robe was a masterful work of art she felt instantly drawn into. All of them were trimmed to her form perfectly by expert seamstresses, all sewn in the same lush green and black fabric with a modestly exotic appeal. And each one was as comfortable to wear as the last. The customary dresses that were meant to see the most wear were insulated with a thick lining of white lamb's fleece to brace the Priestess for the cold northern weather. Trying them on so the maids could trim them made Yumiko think she was dressing up as a fluffy green Santa Claus getting ready to celebrate a Mongolian Christmas.

Eventually, the conversation switched from the handmaids' chatting their thoughts about Uruki to Yumiko asking question after question trying to understand the world she'd been spirited off to. She learned Genbu was the guardian beast-god of the Hokkan principality, the northernmost of the four regions of known world. The others were Kutou toward the east, Konan toward the south, and Sairou toward the west.

Her purpose here was still a mystery. The maids could only provide sketchy details about granting wishes and gathering a certain number of "Celestial Warriors." They were certain Uruki was the first of these warriors with his power to control the wind as a weapon, but there was no advice on how to go about finding the others.

The problem was nobody actually knew what the Priestess was supposed to accomplish. Most of the ancient scrolls foretelling her arrival had been lost, left to decay, or tossed aside completely by the current Hokkan dynasty. The Prince seemed to be the only true scholar left on the subject.

The only other way Yumiko could learn how to begin her divine quest was by consulting the immortal oracle living on the peak of Mount Taikyoku. Unfortunately, making the trip right now would be out of the question. The mountain had been struck by an unusually long winter season this year, making the weather treacherous and traveling the mountain impossible. Yumiko would have to wait until the hail and snow storms cleared away.

According to the maids, the public deeply believed in Genbu as an omnipotent benefactor. But most people in power exhalted him as a vengeful war god who demanded blood to be appeased. Some of the "enlightened" few were convinced he didn't exist at all and used his name only as a political gesture to keep the public in check. Lower ranking citizens like the maids were hardly happy with invoking Genbu in this fashion, but it would be treason to confront the issue directly.

After taking their time getting her dressed, the maids traded Yumiko to her armed escort so she could be shown through the palace grounds. She was introduced to the throne room, the gardens, the courtyard, the dining hall, the training grounds, and the stables. She spent a great while pacing down the stalls getting to know the horses and riding her favorite around the palace range.

She crossed paths with Uruki only once during the day, while he was rushing between counsel rooms or going to check on something in the barracks. Their greeting was short, but seeing each other for only a brief second made them both happier.

The most important part of the palace Yumiko was taken to was the ceremony temple. Only she was allowed to enter so she could meet the attendants: Three good-natured but sharp-witted white-haired ladies who could have been in her position decades ago. They were responsible for making sure she always followed her duties as Priestess, mediated to Genbu every day, and kept both her soul and her body pure. When she opened up to them about her relationship with Uruki, they told her not to worry her sweet little head. Anything that strengthened the bond between Genbu and the land was considered the highest form of worship.

Yumiko felt nearly exhausted when she returned to her room and the sun was halfway done setting. Her energy returned as soon as Uruki came to check on her. Even after he had gone through a day full of a hundred more distractions than hers, he still found the time to make her his last and favorite visit.

They talked for a while as the stars rose in the dark blue sky, with her having plenty to say while he kept mostly to himself. Their roles were reversed compared to the previous two days, but neither one could deny the feelings that were rapidly blossoming between them. She only wanted to be held in his arms so she'd never feel lonely. He only wanted her presence to soothe him and take his mind off the burdens of being the Crown Prince.

They needed each other.

Yumiko and Uruki kissed on the edge of the bed like they had done the night before. This time, however, Yumiko fell back on the sheets and gently guided the Prince on top of her. She sacrificed her innocence to him in the still moonlight.

 **Day 5**

Every time Yumiko awoke to the sight of Hokkan sprawling in front of her balcony, she felt more like this was this was the world she was always meant to exist in. Her life in her own time was beginning to sadly fade into a distant memory. The terror of her first night in Hokkan was almost gone from her mind, replaced by the feelings of Uruki delicately holding her under his weight. The mark on her face had healed completely.

There was much debating over how the court should introduce the Priestess to the public. Rumors were swirling through the kingdom of a beautiful black-haired stranger who had arrived at the palace in the ferocious thunderstorm. Half of the advisors insisted she should be revealed to the public and celebrated as icon. The rest—Uruki included—preferred for the Priestess to stay in the palace so she could be kept safe.

"I can't just stay coiled up in a box until I go home," Yumiko said over their squabbling, making the decision herself. She agreed to appear before the people and greet them with a speech.

A massive crowd gathered at the gates of the palace at midday. Yumiko stood at the top of the palace stairs with Uruki right at her side, helping her keep her fleeting confidence together. Her eyes scanned over the hundreds of distant onlookers waiting to hear what she had to say.

For the first time, she saw the hopeful faces of the people who defined the culture of Hokkan. Not the royalty cloistered in their luxurious castle, not the wolves lurking in the city's shadows, but the countless townfolk living average lives with ordinary families. The ones who worked night and day to keep their beloved country afloat. The ones who really ran the show from backstage.

The magistrate had prepared a speech for her so she only had to read line for line, but she stumbled through all the words and gave up halfway. The rest she roughly improvised. She told the public who she was, keeping the details of her origin vague enough (it was pointless to confuse these people even more). She promised them she would keep them in her prayers and do everything she could for them, even if she still wasn't sure what Genbu wanted from her. When she was finally finished, she nervously bowed her head and expected to become target practice for rotten vegetables.

The audience in the town square adored her despite all of her faults. They cheered their respect for her, praising her as the Priestess of Genbu, praising her as Blessed Yumiko. For the first time in her life, she felt truly important.

King Tegil Rowun sat on a throne behind Uruki and Yumiko during the entire speech. He kept his head low, masking his expression in the shadow of his crown.

The Priestess wished her audience farewell and returned to the palace with Uruki. They talked to each other closely as the noise of the cheering masses faded behind them. He expressed his relief knowing so many people were on their side. She thanked him for being there for her.

And at the end of the day, they made love again.

 **Day 6**

Yumiko joined Uruki for a pleasant stroll through the palace that morning. Everyone from the servants' quarters to the archery range greeted her and the Prince affectionately. She had almost remembered names of each worker.

One stop that day was in the palace's war chamber, a highly guarded area Yumiko hadn't been to until now. At least a dozen veteran soldiers decorated with every manner of scars, bandages, and eyepatches were standing around her, leaving her feeling tiny and intimidated. She'd probably back out of the room in an instant if she wasn't always inches from Uruki's side.

In addition to being the Crown Prince, Yumiko learned, he was also the acting general of the entire Hokkan army. She finally knew what had been keeping him so busy when she couldn't see him. He had to participate in the preparation of hundreds of missions each year and he had final say every time. Today he was about to make a decision on how to fight bordering country of Sairou.

The council was standing around a model of the Hokkan-Sairou border that covered the entire briefing table. Wooden markers highlighted elevation points and tactical advantages. Tiny faceless pawns were shifted around to represent troop formations.

A mountainous divide to the southwest separated Hokkan from Sairou. The only ways to reach Hokkan soil from the enemy side was to either take half a month to circumnavigate the shores, or squeeze through a narrow hazardous path in the mountains in a single day. Reports from scouts stated a large contingent of Sairou ground forces had just started to move northward toward Hokkan. The plan was to form a blockade at the halfway mark in the mountain pass.

Hokkan's military philosophy was to cautiously sit and hold their position, snapping their jaws only when the time was right, like a turtle or a snake. Sairou's philosophy was to charge the enemy in rage and confuse them with swift, quick attacks, like a tiger. Hokkan had the perfect opportunity, as the narrow passageway greatly diminished Sairou's fighting options. Nature always favored the smartest.

"What are the estimated casualties?" the Prince asked in concern, carefully eying the model for every possible scenario.

"No more than 300 of ours. Their forces should be obliterated completely," one advisor said confidently.

Yumiko started to slither out of her shell of anxiety. Her curiosity drew her to silently follow the logic on the map and picture the fighting for herself. Her eyes stopped a few inches away from the current planned engagement point, making her realize something the strategists may have overlooked.

"What about these two hills?" She spoke up softly, pointing to the smooth elevation features on the map seated just in front of the mountain on the Hokkan side.

Everyone in the room turned toward her with collected baffled looks, Uruki included. Formally, Yumiko was only there to act as a token of good faith and give her blessing to any plan the court decided. She was meant to be little more than a small eye-pleasing decoration who kept to herself as she stood by General Rowun's side.

But now she was offering war council.

"Those are just farmlands, Lady Genbu. No strategic value to us," one of them answered, struggling to hold his tongue so he wouldn't offend her with his laughter.

"But you could use them to route the Sairou soldiers," Yumiko explained as she pointed to different parts of the map. "Place a third of your people up the road around here. Split the rest into two groups and have them hide in these wheat fields. The enemy will only see the smaller force you have stationed in the front and they'll charge straight through the mountain pass. Once they're on this open plain, these two flanks can come down from the hills. Sairou will be completely surrounded from three different sides. You'd only have to deal with the officers who still insist on fighting. But you could capture anyone who's willing to surrender, maybe even learn something from them that would prevent another battle."

The expressions on the strategists' faces changed from humor to total shock. Uruki began to silently scratch his chin in consideration.

"Are… you suggesting we deceive Sairou with a sneak attack?" one of more grizzled advisors asked. "I assure you, Madame, we are honorable men. We can crush these hordes head-on with our superior troops. We'd never-"

"I'm suggesting what's going to spare the most lives," Yumiko pressed with quiet urgency.

"But Priestess," another one reasonably interjected, "These two fields have always been privately tended by the families living there. We would be disrespecting our farmers by trampling through their property."

"They're still people of Hokkan, and the kind who would rather stay out of a bigger war," Yumiko said. "I'm sure they'd be just as worried about the soldiers' lives as I am if they knew what was going on. I'll ride out and meet these families myself if that's what will convince them to help us."

The first strategist glanced toward the second, saying "She _does_ have a way of getting the people on her side."

The whole assembly whispered between themselves in doubt. After a minute, they all fell silent and glanced toward their commander for guidance.

"Sir?" the most senior strategist said to Uruki.

"I support the Priestess's strategy," the Prince answered.

 **Day 10**

The campaign at the mountain pass was a complete success. The farmhands working on the hills were enamored by Yumiko's visit and generously let Uruki's army station themselves on the fields for the day. It only took the Priestess a few words to justify why the soldiers needed the farmers' help before they agreed completely. After the battle was won, the families promised to double their harvest in the upcoming spring and made a prayer for bountiful fertility throughout all of Hokkan.

Even though it was a resounding victory with little fighting and even fewer lives lost, something was deeply troubling Uruki. He tried to hide it, but Yumiko saw it in his eyes instantly. He was changing back into the weary and burdened man she heard he used to be before she had been brought to Hokkan.

He only found a way to relax when she followed him into his private tent and lovingly shared his bed that night.

 **Day 11**

Uruki's uneasy feelings returned when he woke up in the morning. He was sitting up in his folding camp bed with Yumiko curled over him. She was lying with her ear nestled against his chin and her long black hair sweeping freely down the slender valley of her back. She smiled serenely and purred quietly when she exhaled. Her soft nude features were pressed lightly into his heroic chest. The thin sheets were pulled up to his rugged waist and the creamy curve of the back of her hips. His palm gently brushed her back while his face remained frozen in concerned thoughts.

The Priestess and the Prince were far removed from the sights and sounds of sterile palace life. In this corner of the country, agriculture reigned supreme. The dry air and noisy market streets had been exchanged with humid plant and animal life in constant competitive growth. The smells of trimmed potpourri and incense that filled the palace were replaced with the more humble scents of wild grass and earth teeming with raw produce. This was where the lower echelons of Hokkan society made their living, working the land to ensure the kingdom was fruitful.

Yumiko lightly scratched her nail close to her navel. She sighed and almost fell back to sleep on Uruki's chest.

The sounds of horses clopping and wooden carts rolling drifted from the army camp around them. Every time some of the soldiers would enter the tent and deliver Uruki with new intelligence, Yumiko would only modestly cover her chest with her arm and retreat her face back into the Prince's shoulder, blushing softly. She never felt more safe and carefree than when she was with the Crown Prince.

Her fingertips stroked Uruki under his chin. He continued staring into vacant space while she played with his stern jaw line, giggling just faintly under her breath, almost acting a little drunk with her affections.

"Uruki, please. Tell me what's bothering you," she begged with a soft chirp.

"My uncle," he said promptly and coldly, finally putting his worst fears into words. "Turning the course of the war like this changes everything. Before he only saw you as a pretty toy to keep me occupied. Now he's starting to see you as a threat."

He peered down at Yumiko's smiling face, showing her how afraid he was of losing her at any moment.

"You're not a citizen of Hokkan. You're not a foreign dignitary, at least in the official sense. No one here can even trace your ancestry."

He touched the back of her head and slowly curled her loose black locks through his fingers. He couldn't stop himself from imagining what it would be like if she just vanished into the air.

"Yumiko," He cringed in pain just from saying her name. "If he ever demanded you to leave, I wouldn't be able to protect you. You'd be left to the wilderness of this world."

Yumiko's smile faded as all of her warm feelings began to chill. But then an idea started to blossom out of the snow in her head. With Uruki still at the center of her thoughts, her mind drifted back to what she knew about ancient customs.

"Your majesty, how many concubines do you keep in your court?" she carefully pried.

Uruki nearly gasped in response, shocked to hear such a shy and pure-hearted girl ask the question so openly.

"None," he said, shaking his head with slight embarrassment. "My advisors have a different harem lined for me every week, but I've always turned them away. I never saw the need to demand such a thing from a woman."

"I'd be honored to serve as yours," Yumiko offered with a tender voice.

Uruki glimpsed into her eyes. He never noticed how beguiling they could look when she used a little effort.

"It's just like you said," Yumiko told him. "I'm nobody here. There aren't any laws on how I should be treated."

She kneaded her fingers into the center of his pectoral strings as she nuzzled her head back under his chin. Every little gesture she made brought Uruki closer to seeing things her way.

"But if I belonged to you, then I'd have no choice but to always be with you," she continued suggesting. "No one would have the authority to strip your property away, right?"

Uruki realized then he was never going to lose her.

All of his fears faded. He closed his eyes just as the corners started growing damp. He held her longingly in his arms and kissed the top of her shining black hair, sighing in thankfulness and relief.

Yumiko decided everything by the moment when it came to her feelings for Uruki, never considering she could be setting the first bricks in the road to his ascension and their future marriage. But when they made love together that night, it was more genuine and passionate that anything either of them had ever experienced.

The kingdom was jubilant when the word broke. Until now, the people felt they were simply being blessed with Yumiko's arrival. News that the divine Priestess from the heavens had surrendered herself to a member of the royal family and devoted her life to Hokkan spelled nothing but extremely good fortunes for the country.

The king sat alone in his dark throne room, stewing.

 **Day 28**

Yumiko approached the three white-haired temple matrons and kneeled under the giant shelled and scaled statue of Genbu. It was time for her usual spirit charting ritual.

Once about every week, the perceptive old ladies would read her fortune and cast prayers of purification around her. They meditated over her to measure her chi, ensuring she stayed healthy and could perform her ceremonial duties. Yumiko would have to wait patiently on her knees and never say a word unless they asked her to confess something or they were done with their metaphysical inspection.

The hushed and private ceremony could take up to an hour. It all depended on Yumiko's "reception," for lack of a better term. It could alter every day based on her emotional state and her physical condition. If she was stressed over Uruki's next military operation and worn out from archery practice, it took the temple servants much longer to determine her feng shui through all the extra noise. If she was happy, well-rested, and free of worry when she was kneeling under the statue, the old ladies would have her in and out in a jiffy. Today was looking about average.

The ritual tested the limits of Yumiko's patience and attention the longer it ran. Every once in a while, she would glance up at the statue of Genbu and wonder why a snake would always be mating with a turtle when nothing could ever result from their union.

"Oh, are you girls seeing an extra bean in this dumpling?" one of the elderly shrine servants chuckled to the other two.

And then Yumiko found out she was with child. The positioning of the tea leaves, the accumulation of chi revealing a tiny second soul hiding in her astral plane, and the way the incense clouds tickled her belly through her robes all pointed to one meaning: There was another life growing inside of her. Genbu may have had problems with conceiving, but she certainty didn't.

Yumiko was shattered by the news at first, even though she knew she should have expected it. She couldn't imagine how she would explain it when she got home, _if_ she ever got home. Her overactive mind thought of all the things that could go wrong between now and nine months later. Above all, she doubted herself and worried she might make a terrible mother.

But then she closed her eyes in meditation and settled on the role the universe had prescribed her. She had a good home to start a family. She had dozens of personal attendants she trusted as friends to keep an eye on her throughout the pregnancy. She had a man who she loved with all of her heart to help her raise her baby. There were worse ways she could have ended up in this world.

Yumiko held her flat palms together with all of her fingers lining straight toward the heavens. She bowed her head in prayer and offered a small grateful smile. Uruki had been the only one who protected her when she was nothing but a shivering ball of broken nerves and frightened half to death. Now it was her chance to protect his future.

The shrine servants congratulated her on becoming a mother at such a ripe age and praised her for doing such a good job as the Prince's concubine. They were sure it was a sign Genbu was truly pleased with her.

Uruki waited for her patiently at the temple entrance. He did this every time Yumiko had to report for her Priestessly duties, and he always volunteered to help her through all of the countless rituals and formalities in any way he could. He would never grow tired of it, not when he knew how important his support was to her.

Yumiko walked through the silk curtains with her head bowed and her hands folded in prayer. Two of her diminutive shrine attendants saw her out. There was a lighthearted exchange between Yumiko and her assistants that Uruki was too far away to hear, then Yumiko started to walk toward him while the servants watched from the temple columns.

As soon as the Priestess was within arm's reach with her Guardian, she sighed and stumbled into his shoulder as if all the energy had left her body. Uruki flew into a panic as he brought his arms around her.

"Yumiko! Did something go wrong?"

He was taken aback when the Priestess raised her head, showing the soft smile that had swept over her face. Joyful tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

"Your Highness," she whispered cheerfully, "You're going to be a father."

 **Day 39**

The long winter on Mount Taikyoku was clearing, making it safe for the Priestess of Genbu, her Celestial Guardian, and a small band of Hokkan escorts to make their pilgrimage up the mountain. Supplies were stocked in the early hours of the morning. The party set out for the top of the mountain at the first ray of sunrise.

Yumiko slowly trotted up the path with one hand holding her horse's reins and the other resting over her waist. Uruki's and the guards' horses traveled in a protective square formation around her. The round hoops of black hair the handmaids had braided above her ears bounced lightly in rhythm with her horse's steps. Strings of small jewelry beads rattled in her ceremonial headdress. Her soft but apprehensive breaths left her mouth in tiny white puffs in the chilly air. She didn't know who she was going to find at the peak or what she was going to be told, but she was ready to finally understand her destiny.

* * *

 _Author's note: Red River? I dunno whatcha talkin about, buddy. This is Fushigi Yuugi. It's totally not Red River. I ain't heard of no Red River before._


	3. Football Season

" _I'll take care of_ _ **you**_ _."_

 **\- Leon Powalski, Star Fox 64**

* * *

Tending to the needs of bedridden weary souls with a caring eye was exhausting work for any Priestess. Yumiko thought of it as practice.

She had been living in the Universe of the Four Gods for close to three months. She had already found the Celestial Guardians Namame, Tomite, and Hikitsu, but few outside of Hokkan really knew who she was. After the invading force from Sairou had been captured in the farmlands, Yumiko went to the prison where the soldiers were being held so she could speak with them and hopefully understand what was causing the conflict between the two kingdoms.

Sairou's people were being ravaged by a desert fever that could only cured with herbs that grew in the colder northern climates of Hokkan. Hokkan's leadership had refused to lend any kind of foreign aid, triggering the strife. Yumiko realized the people of the neighboring kingdom weren't Hokkan's enemies. They weren't even fighting to gain any sort of wealth or territory. They were just struggling to survive.

The Priestess worked to settle the conflict two ways. With the Crown Prince's help, she finally eased the trade tensions between the North and the West so Sairou would have the medicinal supplies they desperately needed. Then she suggested she should go on a diplomatic mission to the western continent so she could see their plight for herself.

What she found was a primitive society that didn't even know how to give proper care to its healthy citizens, much less the sick ones. Yumiko was far from a professionally trained nurse (she had mostly liked to study history and archeology in her own world), but even she knew an unwashed knife made for a shoddy surgical tool and a rusty blacksmith's wrench was a crime against modern dentistry.

So the Priestess did her best to help them. The people were convinced the radical new ideas she brought were holy knowledge that could have never come from any mortal's mind. All she really did was show them how to store their food, sterilize their tools, and keep their beds tidy.

The difference she made happened almost overnight. The rate of new sicknesses quickly dwindled, while those who were already ill actually started to improve. Despite helping day and night in the houses of the sick, Yumiko never wound up catching the horrible desert plague that claimed so many before her arrival. The people of Sairou saw it as proof she had to be a divine being sent down from the Heavens to save them. She blushed and shyly nodded along with whatever they suggested she was, not wanting to disappoint them by telling them she was probably just immune because she got all of her shots when she was living in the 20th century.

The people of Sairou would always mutter choice words under their breath for King Tegil, but they developed nothing but admiration for Priestess Yumiko and Prince Uruki. When the Priestess became aware of another rising problem that drew her attention to the southern kingdom of Konan (and received hints that was where she would find her next Celestial Guardian), Sairou wished her off with a level of celebration that was like she was leaving her own home country. The lands of the Turtle and the Tiger remained close allies from that point on.

* * *

 _Author's note: Here's Yumiko doing her best Mint Adenade impression._

 _Author's note 2: I still have no idea what's this Red River thing you guys keep talking about._


	4. Enter the Lizzinator

" _Live on my dream. Live on my soul."_

 **\- Kumi Sasaki**

* * *

Sailing out of Konan was nothing like the tumultuous journey sneaking in. Prince Uruki, the Priestess, and the rest of her Celestial Guardians had to travel in the backs of covered hay wagons so they could enter the palace grounds anonymously. They came to the Southern Kingdom while it was thrown in the turmoil of a spy ring that worked to destroy the country like a parasite from within. The concerned emperor put more trust in complete strangers rumored to be performing great deeds in other countries than anyone inside his own palace.

The spies were eventually exposed and a string of assassination plots were thwarted thanks to the Priestess's clever advice. A fifth Celestial Guardian even turned up in Konan to lend her aid during the hunt. The spies had had been sent from Kutou, but Uruki noticed several odd things about them. The subtle dialects some of them used and the type of arrows one of the snipers carried suggested they might have been in league with…

 _No._ Uruki knew his uncle was perfectly capable of being underhanded, but he couldn't believe Tegil would compromise his own nation to conspire with Kutou. He kept the suspicions in the back of his mind and hoped he was wrong.

The entire campaign lasted a little less than half a year. All of that danger and intrigue was behind them, and now Prince Uruki was on a royal barge heading straight north toward Hokkan. He would arrive with his beloved concubine just in time to lay the first groundwork for their family. They'd both grown to like the warmer tropics during their months in Konan. Now that their southern neighbor was at peace, maybe they would someday return on a royal summer retreat.

Uruki was sitting on the deck of the barge with the midday sun gleaming over his head. Yumiko was curled in his arms in an extravagant bundle of emerald and obsidian robes. All the energy she spent nurturing the baby inside her left her with little energy of her own, leaving her prone to dozing off at the slightest opportunity. While the sounds of the gentle rocking waves around the barge had put her fast to sleep, the sounds of her calm and cheerful breathing were likely to send Uruki drifting off as well. The four other Celestial Guardians were seated nearby to watch over the relaxing couple.

The Prince thought back to how different everything had been only a year ago, back in what felt like a different life. He used to be as driftless as one of the leaves floating outside the boat and lacked the resolve to forge his own future. He simply followed the advice of ministers and magistrates while trying to make the best of it. At the time, he was being groomed to marry his cousin Efinluka, King Tegil's daughter, so the country would be ruled for generations by a pure-blooded Rowun line following Tegil's exact vision. Conflicted but cornered, it was a path toward a future Uruki had almost been ready to accept despite all his best judgment telling him he would be staking his eventual kingship on the wrong ideals and sowing his seed in the wrong garden. But then something happened that gave him a new hope: Yumiko arrived.

She'd fallen from the sky like a lost angel with broken wings. Cold, scared, and alone, she needed someone to nurse her back to health. She was the embodiment of all the sacred legends that inspired him, just like he was the embodiment of an exotic archaic culture she longed to be part of.

As much as it would it crush the heart beating in his chest, he would still send the Priestess back to her own world if the chance were to ever arise. Now that her wings were healed, he would never force her to stay locked in his cage. But secretly, he prayed she would stay here with him for the rest of their lives. He knew it was a selfish prayer, one he felt remorse over at times, but he also knew Genbu wasn't a cruel god. The precious celestial creature curled in his arms couldn't have been cast out of her Heaven as punishment. Somewhere in his mind, he sensed Genbu had sent her here to spare her from some danger or catastrophe in her own world, and now it was his responsibility to make sure she remained safe in her new world.

Uruki shifted his arm so his palm came to rest on the rich layers of silk drapes covering his concubine's waist. The Priestess was nearly swollen to her limit. It would only be a few more days before the entire kingdom of Hokkan found out if she had brought them a beautiful baby prince or a baby princess. Uruki and Yumiko were beings from two separate plains of existence, and there was a time when they had both innocently assumed nothing could have resulted from their lovemaking. The gods had shown they were mistaken by leaving them a little curse that grew into a blessing.

"Mmn…"

The Priestess stirred blissfully in her sleep. Her fingers unconsciously crossed Uruki's so both of their hands were resting over the child in her belly.

* * *

 _Author's note: I'm not your boy toy. Boy toy. I'm just a sexy boy. Sexy boy. I'm not your boy toy._

 _Author's note 2: This chapter is meant to match up with that scene in the canon Genbu Kaiden manga where Takiko sings the Gondola Song (a 1920s love ballad from her own era) to help Uruki calm down. Yumiko isn't singing in this version because she's sleepy. If she were awake, she'd probably be singing "Dancing Hero" by Yoko Oginome or something crazy like that._

 _Author's note 3: You know how in the second half of Genbu Kaiden, Takiko keeps lamenting over her tuberculosis by saying "I've brought this disease from my own world with me and there's no way any of the fantasy healing techniques in this world can prevent my death" without ever actually testing that theory? Yeah. I flipped it around to make it life-oriented instead of death-oriented. Now it's cute.  
_


	5. Return of an Old Friend

" _You could have obeyed me."_

 _—"I could have, but I didn't."_

" _It would have been better for you. You know it. I don't understand. Why didn't you obey me?"_

 _—"To obey just like that, for the sake of obeying, without questioning… That's something only people like you can do, Captain."_

 **\- Captain Vidal and Dr. Ferreiro, Pan's Labyrinth**

 _ _"Why don't you just get me a crash dummy? At least he'll do what I tell him."__

 **\- Julian Wilkes, Viper**

 _ _"What is there to forgive? You didn't take the child away from us. The gods fell in love with him and wanted him back. That's all."__

 **\- Kail Mursili, Red River**

 _"Do you remember the way to the Great Valley?"_

 **\- Littlefoot's mom, The Land Before Time**

" _DAMN IT. DAMN IT. DAMN IT."_

 **\- Theodor Eberbach, Muv-Luv Alternative: Schwarzesmarken episode 8**

* * *

Yumiko prayed dutifully under the statue of Genbu. The three wise women of the royal temple knelt around her in a triangle to help lift her faith.

Uruki was away on a mission in the Kutou province that could take several weeks. The Priestess desperately longed to be riding beside him in the fields, but she had more pressing matters to attend to at the palace. Everything had gone well during their journeys together in Sairou and Konan. Sairou's hostility toward Hokkan had been spurred by a desperate search to find a cure for a desert plague that was killing their people, but Yumiko only needed to open trade talks and show them the basics of running a clean hospital before the pandemic ended and she gained their trust. And just after Sairou needed her help, Konan had been facing a spy crisis that could have toppled the entire South into chaos. Yumiko and her Celestial Protectors scouted out the traitors and saved the country's leadership before leaving on peaceful terms.

But Yumiko's separation from Uruki now left her with a lingering sense of heartbreak and fear. They had been together for over a year and they had never been this far apart. All of her thoughts went into a silent incantation for the prince's safety.

Suddenly, the temple doors behind the four women burst open like exploding fireworks. Black-suited Hokkan soldiers rushed through the doorway and clustered around Yumiko like a swarm of moths. Two of them grabbed the Priestess by her wrists and yanked her off her knees, sending her into a panic as she looked back and forth in bewilderment. The three elderly shrine servants stood up from their own places, clearly infuriated.

"What is the meaning of this?" the first servant shouted. "You're treading on Genbu's most sacred ground! Your very presence desecrates this temple!"

The captain of the private palace guard was already drawing his sword from its black scabbard.

"This witch from the demon world desecrates the entire country!" he spit back at them. "Your false preachings will no longer be tolerated!"

Yumiko was terrified for her life. The captain turned his callous eyes on hers and spoke coldly.

"Priestess Yumiko, you have been accused of betraying His Highness Lord Tegil and conspiring against the kingdom. You are hereby sentenced to be put to the sword and have your body burnt as an offering to Genbu. You will foul these lands no further."

Yumiko tried to defy him with every ounce of courage in her heart. What came out of her mouth was only a tiny whimper.

"This is nonsense!" one of the shrine servants objected. "The only thing the Priestess knows how to betray is her own arrogance!"

"The only thing she conspires over is how to show her love for Hokkan's people!" said the second.

"Her only sin is annoying the chefs because she can never decide what food she likes best here!" said the third. "Even if you had any serious evidence against her, you know she needs to stand trial first!"

"The order comes directly from King Tegil himself," the lead guardsman said as he shook his head in foreboding. "There can be no trial. We know what she's capable of. The Priestess would just use her wiles to seduce the jury to her side."

"You'll never be forgiven for this!" the first servant exclaimed. "Everyone in the kingdom adores her! They'll see right through your scheme and start a revolution against you!"

"Nothing can stop that now," the elite captain replied. "They'll just have to learn worshipping a false idol will only lead to their ruin. They'll have to accept their faith belongs to those who hold power. They'll try to revolt, and they'll lose dearly. Everything was so much simpler before this woman fell out of the sky and started convincing the peasants they're more powerful than the king."

The trio of old servants growled under their breath and twisted their faces into scowls like it was a new form of zen.

"I advise you to withhold your grievances," said the captain. "Lord Tegil holds nothing ill against you three. Allow us to deal with this devil and you can return to your peaceful sermon."

"You filthy little heathens…" the head matron muttered back.

The three old women jumped into action a hundred times faster than their creaking legs and their huddled bodies should have been able. In the blink of an eye, all three were wielding ceremonial guandao poles that were longer than them. Yumiko would have laughed at how silly they looked if she wasn't held by her wrists awaiting the executioner's block.

"Okay, girls!" the lead servant said. "Nobody starts trouble for the Priestess on our watch! Let's teach these youngsters some respect!"

Curved spearheads crashed against swords. Yumiko was forced to watch as the countless guards and the three old servants struggled to decide her fate. Seeing her friendly attendants overwhelmed, she finally gathered her wits and shouted.

"Wait!"

The battle came to an abrupt stop. Heavily armored soldiers and elegantly dressed clerics turned their heads toward her with the same surprised expressions.

"If this is how it has to end for me, I won't put up a fight," Yumiko said softly. Her eyes fell on the leader of the guards with a look of mercy.

"Just promise me someone will take care of Zalbiral after I'm gone. I'll let you do whatever you want as long as he's safe."

The captain glanced back at her with a growing smirk.

"I'm sorry, Priestess, but I don't have the authority to make those arrangements. An armed contingent was already sent to the nursery. We couldn't risk letting your co-conspirator walk free."

Yumiko's gentle and serene face contorted with a look of bitter agony. Her heavy breathing turned into a sickened whining sound, and then the whining broke into a wail of torment. The Priestess threw away the two guards grasping her wrists with an explosion of motherly strength. She charged for the guard captain with no weapons in her hands and no idea what she was going to do other than make him _**pay**_ _._ Her senses lapsed as she ran screaming into her own demise, blinded to the fact the elite soldiers were wielding dozens of blades and her only defense was her flimsy green robes.

A giant black spider web caught Yumiko before she did something stupid.

Another, smaller blast came through the wall above the temple doors as a screaming guardsman hurtled through the air. Everyone in the temple turned to see a female fighter standing by herself in the entrance. Her hair stretched for miles like wet black ropes, acting with a mind of its own as it lashed around the soldiers.

Her name was Inami, and she was one of Genbu's seven Celestial Warriors. In her right hand, she wielded a long lead pipe that proved useful for toppling palace guards in waves. In her left arm, she was cradling a small white bundle.

Inami jumped on to one guard's shoulders and cleared the others with an aerial flip. She landed beside the Priestess and quickly pushed back the attackers with a swirl of metal and magic. Three of the soldiers went sailing like bowling pins as she struck their faces with her pipe. Four more were bound to the temple walls in her tangled hair.

"I just finished up with about a dozen of your pals upstairs," she taunted the soldiers. "Would any of you other guys like to try taking me for a spin?"

Her menacing words held off the attackers for a time.

Inami turned toward her Priestess. She extended her left arm to show the younger woman the tiny weeping bundle she had rescued.

"Lady Yumiko," Inami said with a playful grin, "I believe this belongs to you?"

The Priestess was ready to burst into tears as she pulled the baby close to her chest. She rocked her shoulders gently and whispered "Shhh" in his ear to calm him down, wrapping him in the long green sleeves of her robe to surround him in her scent. His frightened crying soon changed to soft babbling. Inami watched the reunion with a reserved sense of achievement.

Yumiko was holding the six-month-old Prince Zalbiral safe and sound in her arms. She didn't yet know she was also holding a tiny daughter safe and sound in her womb.

"Inami, thank you," Yumiko said through quiet tearful laughter. "I really thought he was gone. How did you even know…?"

"I told you I always make sure my girls are treated well, royal concubines included." The Celestial Warrior offered a sympathetic smile, hinting at her profession as a brothel proprietress. "As for your little one… I lost my child when Genbu decided I wasn't ready to become a mother yet. I guess I just couldn't stop myself from looking after him like he was my own."

While Yumiko was distracted by her bliss, a single black guard charged behind her with his sword held out. He attacked too suddenly for Yumiko to dodge and too quickly for Inami to disarm with her hair strands. He was inches away from piercing his blade all the way through the Priestess's back.

He ended up piercing his blade between the ribs of one of the shrine matrons.

"Madoka!" the other two screamed in unison.

The old woman stood defiantly with the sword sticking through her, shielding her beloved Priestess's life with her own. Inami recovered from her initial shock and launched the soldier backwards with another web of hair.

The servant staggered forward a few steps. She slowly pulled the sword out of her chest, studied the red gleam painting its edges, and carelessly tossed it to the shrine floor. She collapsed to her knees, expressing her pain with little more than a disappointed groan.

Madoka closed her eyes and cleared her mind. She silently projected her thoughts to the other matrons, whispering to them through a special wavelength only the three of them shared.

 _Misaki, Mariko. You two are running the show now. You'll have to get the Priestess and her Guardian out of here. You better not have forgotten how to use the passage behind the altar._

Then she opened her eyes and spoke with her natural voice so Yumiko and Inami could hear.

"Now you kids get going. Follow Genbu's will before these fools destroy everything with theirs. Restore the dynasty. Put our true king where he belongs."

Madoka finished her final homily and crumpled to the floor.

Mariko and Misaki pulled the Priestess by her sleeves. They quickly led her and the tiny prince to the front of the temple. Inami followed only a few paces behind them, throwing out her hair as a smokescreen to keep the soldiers off their trail. She spoke to the Priestess as they were both running.

"Yumiko, don't let yourself think you're giving up. This isn't retreat. This is isn't surrender. This is just something we soldiers call 'tactical regrouping.' The Genbu Warriors still need you to lead us against these frauds. Uruki needs you the most."

Yumiko nodded in understanding, squeezing her tear-soaked eyes shut and holding her baby son to her heart while she fled.

The Priestess, her Guardian, and the two temple servants stopped and huddled close together. One second they were crouching in the shadow of Genbu's protective stone shell. The next, they were simply gone. All that remained in the room were the battalion of black-suited guards and a single temple attendant.

A crimson pool spread under Madoka's robes and soaked into the temple grounds. The enraged captain of the guard loomed over the helpless old woman as he raised his sword into the air. Madoka rolled on her back and chuckled weakly as blood seeped down the wrinkles around her mouth.

"I'm getting too old for this anyway," she muttered in a final wisecrack.

Just as the soldier's sword descended over her head, her pain was taken away and her vision was basked in a thankful green glow.


	6. On Fins and Needles

_"I guess I'm going to have to get used to this."_

 **\- Joe Astor, Viper**

 _"You get used to it."_

 **\- The Priestess, Goblin Slayer**

* * *

The iron prison door squealed open on its rusted hinges. Yumiko cowered backwards into the hay and tried to hide out of the torchlight, pressing her back to the cold, damp stone wall and drawing her knees up to her chin. A group of guards wearing sapphire armor with scaled dragon helmets came through the door in single file and cornered the shivering and wide-eyed Priestess.

Her silk robes were torn and dirty. The once vibrant greens and blacks were fading into a single hue of dusty gray. Her hair was unkempt with tangled remnants of decorative loops. She had lost track of how many days she had been a prisoner of war.

It had all happened when the Celestial Guardians had pressed their attack on Kutou while she stayed behind in the Hokkan camp for her safety. Maybe the Kutou forces had simply outsmarted her, or maybe that monster Tegil had leaked something to them, but the next thing she remembered was the sound of horses galloping around the tent and men shouting. Her archery could only get her so far on its own, and retreat wasn't an option for her when it failed. She hadn't exactly been in the most mobilized condition when they caught her.

And now she was here. She wanted to be in Konan with Zalbiral and his caretakers, or with Uruki and the rest of her allies on the border between kingdoms, where they were certainly waiting for a chance for a counterattack. Anywhere but this murky dungeon in the basement of Kutou's palace.

"Priestess of Genbu," one of the guards addressed her in a stoic tone. "You're to come with us."

The battalion parted into two wings so a smaller figure could walk into the jail. It was a girl only a year or two older than Yumiko. She was dressed in a light blue servant's robe that matched the flowery hue of her wavy pale lavender hair. She walked much more daintily and quietly in her leather slippers compared to the armored men with their metal boots.

The girl knelt in front of Yumiko. She looked at the Priestess's face curiously, and then delicately reached out with both hands. She didn't look like she was carrying any knives or swords like the guards, but that didn't mean she couldn't be hiding something in her dress. She certainly didn't have a soldier's hands; the kind of powerful and weathered hands that could cut Yumiko open like a fish with a simple crank of the wrist. This girl's hands were smooth and graceful, good for picking fruit and wrapping them into soft bundles. But the Priestess was still fearful.

The girl's fingers carefully pushed away the outer layer of robes dangling down Yumiko's waist, uncovering a round motherly swelling dressed in forest green silk. The girl inspected Yumiko's condition closely, slowly moving both of her hands over the curve to judge its shape and weight. Yumiko's eyelids lowered slightly as she grew more relaxed.

The girl's face lit up with playful anticipation as she made her assessment.

"Aw. You must be around six or seven months along. Not much further to go, yes?"

Yumiko nodded silently, trying to restrain her panic.

"Will this be your firstborn?" the girl asked gently.

"Second," the Priestess whispered.

"No wonder she's sleeping so soundly," the girl nodded and smiled. "The belly always softens a bit after the first pregnancy. Once it's been plump with one little one, it just likes to keep growing more."

Yumiko was surprised to hear her baby referred to as "she." Most people assumed the child was a "he" or an "it." Even Uruki never gave his child a gender and liked to keep it a surprise. He would love whatever Yumiko brought into the world all the same, boy or girl.

The girl turned toward the guards waiting behind her, lowering her voice into a more serious tone.

"She's been here half a week. And none of you spotted this until yesterday?"

"Her robes," one of them replied. "All the loose fabric hides her well. We only noticed her when she kept looking down while she was praying."

"I didn't want them to know," the Priestess said fearfully.

The girl shook her head jokingly. She helped Yumiko pull her robe back over her waist and brushed out the wrinkles.

"Well, let's get you to your new quarters," she said with her innocent eyes set on Yumiko's. "This is no place for a mother expecting."

The Priestess was helped to her feet by one of the blue guards and quietly ushered out of the dreary dungeon. The group walked up a spiral staircase, out of the battlements, through several lavish hallways, and across a courtyard balcony. They were always in the same formation, with Yumiko closely surrounded by Kutou soldiers while the girl led in front. Yumiko walked with her hanging low and her dark emerald grown trailing behind her, quietly terrified of wherever they could be taking her. Her hands were never shackled and she wasn't being led by a collar, but she felt the invisible chains tightly drawn around her all the same.

The girl opened a door at the end of the palace walkway and showed the way in.

"Please, make yourself at home, Priestess of Genbu. I'll fetch some maids to help you wind down."

Yumiko was overwhelmed with shock, and for once it was the good kind. She had been brought to a massive suite fashioned like a beachside paradise. The walls were painted bright blue and decorated with sand colored scrolls. There was a queen-sized bed with sky blue blankets stylized to resemble a giant clamshell. There was a prayer altar that had been built from the wood of a fishing ship. The bath was a walk-in heated spring with a statue of a dragon endlessly spewing crystal clear water. A small decorative aqueduct ran through each corner of the ceiling sprinkling water onto dozens of thriving hanging plants.

The Priestess was in a private living space fit for royalty. For a second, it was enough to fool her into thinking she was back home in Hokkan.

* * *

The girl and the soldiers walked through a pair of shrine pillars in the dark. Quietly they approached another figure from behind.

A woman with long striking blonde hair was kneeling in prayer on a rich blue pillow in front of burning candles made from azure wax. She never turned her head to acknowledge her visitors, but she knew when they were there.

"The Priestess has been moved to the guest suite as you asked," the girl said toward the woman's back. "I have plenty of guards making sure she's not going anywhere."

"And is she comfortable?" the woman asked promptly.

"Confused, more than anything," the girl gave a tiny nod. "I think she's calming down, but she's smart. She knows when she's still a prisoner, even if she's a spoiled one. Poor thing has plenty to be nervous about."

The woman chuckled out of the corner of her mouth.

"Quite. I'm the only thing keeping her blood warm in her veins and not turning cold as it washes over Seiryuu's altar."

She drew a stick of incense from a holder near her hand and touched it to the flame of each candle. She inhaled the waving pillars of smoke rising in front of her before she continued to speak.

"See to it she's allowed to be as happy as possible given her circumstances. The signs are showing me the princess must be born in captivity so her spirit is bound to the soil of both Hokkan and Kutou. She's going to be very important to our kingdom's future, and I wouldn't dare do something to jeopardize it. And when the baby comes, we have to make sure the mother and her sweet suckling daughter are kept close together and provided every amount of respect and amenity they could possibly need. We'll take care of the Priestess and her little one for the rest of their lives… or at least until her dashing Guardian comes to rescue her. She'll learn not everyone here is her enemy."

The woman looked slightly over her shoulder.

"I'm counting on you to treat her well, Tomi."

"But Madame Naka," the girl said. "What if the Priestess gives birth to a boy?"

The woman's lips twisted sharply at the thought of such an offense. Her voice became cold and scornful as her eyes peered downward.

"Then she'll turn me into a fraud and the emperor will no longer heed my advice. Kill the bitch and her little bastard pup both."

She blew out the candles.

* * *

 _Author's note: I figured, "Well I can't make her like Miaka where everyone is trying to seduce her or rape her on a weekly basis in an attempt to disqualify her virginity, so what would the Yumiko equivalent of that be?"_


	7. The Yolk's on You

" _I know this face."_

 **\- Joe Astor, Viper**

* * *

The iron prison door squealed open on its rusted hinges. Yumiko cowered backwards into the hay and tried to hide out of the torchlight, pressing her back to the cold, damp stone wall and drawing her knees up to her chin. A group of guards wearing sapphire armor with scaled dragon helmets came through the door in single file and cornered the shivering and wide-eyed Priestess.

Her silk robes were torn and dirty. The once vibrant greens and blacks were fading into a single hue of dusty gray. Her hair was unkempt with tangled remnants of decorative loops. She had lost track of how many days she had been a prisoner of war.

It had all happened when the Celestial Guardians had pressed their attack on Kutou while she stayed behind in the Hokkan camp for her safety. Maybe the Kutou forces had simply outsmarted her, or maybe that monster Tegil had leaked something to them, but the next thing she remembered was the sound of horses galloping around the tent and men shouting. Her archery could only get her so far on its own, and retreat wasn't an option for her when it failed. She hadn't exactly been in the most mobilized condition when they caught her.

And now she was here. She wanted to be in Konan with Zalbiral and his caretakers, or with the rest of her allies on the border between kingdoms, where they were certainly waiting for a chance for a counterattack. Anywhere but this murky dungeon in the basement of Kutou's palace.

"Priestess of Genbu," one of the guards addressed her in a stoic tone. "You're to come with us."

The battalion parted into two wings so a smaller figure could walk into the jail. It was a girl only a year or two older than Yumiko. She was dressed in a light blue servant's robe that matched the flowery hue of her wavy pale lavender hair. She walked much more daintily and quietly in her leather slippers compared to the armored men with their metal boots.

The girl knelt in front of Yumiko. She looked at the Priestess's face curiously, and then delicately reached out with both hands. She didn't look like she was carrying any knives or swords like the guards, but that didn't mean she couldn't be hiding something in her dress. She certainly didn't have a soldier's hands; the kind of powerful and weathered hands that could cut Yumiko open like a fish with a simple crank of the wrist. This girl's hands were smooth and graceful, good for picking fruit and wrapping them into soft bundles. But the Priestess was still fearful.

The girl's fingers carefully pushed away the outer layer of robes dangling down Yumiko's waist, uncovering a round motherly swelling dressed in forest green silk. The girl inspected Yumiko's condition closely, slowly moving both of her hands over the curve to judge its shape and weight. Yumiko's eyelids lowered slightly as she grew more relaxed.

All of her trepidation suddenly melted. She leaned forward like she was collapsing over her knees, gently resting all of her weight against the girl in the blue dress so her head nestled into the girl's shoulder. She purred like a cat who was tamed simply by the girl touching her.

The girl and the guards all reacted with the same stunned looks.

"Thank you," Yumiko whispered into the girl's ear. "This little one can be so much to carry on my own."

"P-… Priestess!" Tomi gasped, almost feeling embarrassed with the men watching. "You don't need to thank me. The Prince deserves your affection more than me. He's the one you love."

Yumiko turned her head at the thought. The breath escaping her nostrils tickled Tomi's neck.

"My love is for Hokkan. I only bear Uruki's children out of duty."

Her face turned a shade of pink as it hid in Tomi's sleeve.

"I've never fallen in love with a person before."

Yumiko sighed again as she sank deeper into Tomi's shoulder. The tangled strands of her long black hair brushed under Tomi's nose. She still had the sweet and nurturing scent of temple candles even after she'd been caged in a dungeon for days.

The Priestess was opening her heart to Tomi when she didn't even know her name. It must have been by Seiryuu's will she had been brought from so far away to meet a simple serving girl in Kutou's court who was only a year or two older than her at most.

Tomi's lips slowly curled into a tender smile as she wrapped her arm around the Priestess and brushed the wrinkled silk robes covering her back. The Priestess was alone in this strange country surrounded by enemies. She needed someone to care for her little one. She needed someone to care for her.

"Let's take her to her room," Tomi said to the guards as she softly brushed Yumiko's hair. "I'll stay with her for the next few nights to keep her safe."

Yumiko's robes shuffled quietly as she lifted her head toward Tomi's. Tomi slowly leaned forward at the same time. They both closed their eyes as their lips were about to meet.

The feeling of water rushing into her mouth suddenly brought Yumiko out of her trance.

She pulled herself up in the bathing pool while frantically shaking her head. The water only came up to her sternum when she was sitting up with her back against the edge of the basin. The constant trickling must have made her zone out, making her slouch deeper and deeper into the small marble pond until she nearly drowned herself.

She rolled her head back and sighed in disbelief, struggling to make sense of the wild things her imagination could come up with when it was allowed to run off on its own. Her neck was tucked against a blue and gold pillow resting on the edge of the water. A pair of stone hydra heads loomed above her shoulders and trickled fresh water into the basin. Small candles lined the bottom of the basin, warming the water only enough so it was comfortable and wouldn't cook her into turtle soup.

The black starry sky twinkled above the outdoor tub. The inner walls of Kutou Palace surrounded her on all sides. For the moment, they stopped being prison walls and offered her a sense of security as she bathed by herself. In any other situation, it wouldn't have been wise to leave a hostage so unattended. She could easily dunk her head all the way under the water and escape her mortal shackles in just a few minutes if she so wished it. But it didn't make a difference when practically everyone in the castle wanted her dead anyway. Lady Naka, the court oracle, and Tomi, the handmaiden who came attached at her hip, seemed like the only two who insisted on sparing Yumiko.

She glanced down at herself as her mind settled back into reality. Her belly was the size of a watermelon in plain view and the size of an AE86 through the distorting ripples of the water. She felt relieved to see the baby was with her, giving her a reason to go on. She just wished her beloved could be with her as well. The basin was big enough for two people.

The Priestess closed her eyes and prayed she'd be together with Uruki soon.

* * *

 _Author's note: Sorry. My Fushigi Yuugi AU glitched out for a second and sprung up into another AU that layered itself on top of itself. It's meta._

 _Author's note 2: This is totally the fanfic that Tomi would write. Those undertones, man._


	8. Two Heads are Better than One

_"You know what they say about discretion and valor. I'm outta here."_

 **\- Joe Astor, Viper**

* * *

Uruki stayed low to the ground in the shadowy twilight as he silently followed the wooden pavilion balustrades of Kutou Palace. He made a point to remain far in the distance the moment he saw any suited soldiers. This was a rescue mission, and not an assassination. He only had a basic sense of where he was going based on the information that had leaked back to his side, but he had no idea where his objective could be. He was looking for a single grain of salt in the middle of an arctic tundra, and the faintest misstep or suspicious noise could start an avalanche.

Finally, he spotted an unsuspecting passerby who might be able to help. It was a young woman with light violet hair and a long blue dress carrying a basket full of oranges in her dainty hands. She happened to be walking the same outer hall Uruki was tracking, probably heading toward the palace kitchen to deliver fresh produce for the next morning's breakfast.

Uruki vaulted over the balustrade like a silent wind and landed inches behind the girl before she could react. One of his arms locked firmly around her waist while the other held a small silver dagger carefully across her neck. The girl's hands clenched tightly in apparent fright, preventing her from dropping the basket and making a sound.

"The Priestess. Where are they keeping her?" Uruki whispered in a calm but deliberate voice. His dagger gleamed in the evening torchlight.

"Sh-… She's…" the fruit girl nervously struggled to blurt out her answer in a timid voice, acting terrified for her life. "By the pool in the garden. There's hardly any guards on the eastern side this time of night."

Uruki swiftly released his grip to show his gratitude for her help. He stepped ahead of the young woman and whistled softly in a mimicked bird call. At the same time, the one-eyed Hikitsu jumped out of hiding behind the opposite balustrade, and Tomite sprang down from the curved ceramic roof of the pavilion.

The three Celestial Guardians reconvened together with hushed voices in the middle of the dark walkway. Uruki would continue to lead in the front while they infiltrated the garden. Hikitsu would shadow him from behind. Tomite would keep his arrows drawn and stay on the lookout from above. They quickly split ways again and left the girl with the basket on her way.

Tomi was smiling slyly to herself the moment the three men turned their backs toward her. She was confident that her ruse had worked as she silently thought.

 _They're on their way, Madame Naka. Just like you predicted._

* * *

Uruki was practically blind in the dense foliage of branches, thorns, and wild flowers. The route was winding and confusing and impossible to discern, but he only had to follow the sound of running spring water to keep his bearings. The moonlight was starting to shine brighter through the ferns in front of him, telling him he was about to reach a courtyard.

And then he could see her from his vantage point. She was sitting with her feet stretched on a marble bench beside a large outdoor bath, fast asleep from the sound of the trickling water. She was wearing a long satin blue and gold robe with transparent white trim that gave the impression of frilled fins. Columns of blue and white beads dangled over her ears, swaying in slow waves with the motion of her unconscious breathing.

The rustling of someone walking out of the brush startled her from her dreams. Her eyes blinked and looked drowsily up toward the source of the shadow looming over her. Still half-asleep, her expression changed to weak shock. She was expecting it to be a rough-faced guard coming to tell her she was due back in her room, or Tomi checking if she needed help with anything. But it was someone completely different.

"Uruki…?" she whispered. After months of tense separation, she couldn't believe he was suddenly in front of her.

"It's okay, Yumiko. I'm getting you out of here." He smiled to put her doubts at ease.

Just then, another smaller thing wriggled in the silk ruffles on the front of Yumiko's robe. An infant girl lifted her head from the left gossamer pillow of the Priestess's chest and yawned. She was dressed like a miniature version of her mother with a chubbier face and short dark bronze hair instead of black. When she looked up toward her father with her tiny waking eyes for the first time, she appeared as sacred and serene as Heaven itself. Uruki couldn't help but softly gasp.

"Is she…?" he whispered with a sense of worry. His daughter looked so innocent and fragile in her mother's arms. She couldn't have been more than a few days old.

"She couldn't be happier. I named her Tiantang," Yumiko nodded with a smile. "She saved my life."

Uruki put his arms tenderly around his Priestess and helped her to her feet. Yumiko held Tiantang in the crook of one arm as she rubbed the rest of the sleepiness out of her own eyes with her opposite silk sleeve.

The Priestess and the Crown Prince fled out of the palace under the cover of the night with Hikitsu and Tomite guarding closely behind them. They finally escaped back to freedom and safety, avoiding any threat of danger along the way in what seemed like a miracle.

* * *

 _Author's note: This scenario was based on the episode of Ayashi no Ceres where Yuuhi has to rescue Chidori from the evil fertility hospital, but with an added twist where the nurses are secret Yuuhi x Chidori shippers working under deep cover and want to help them pull through. The fountain setting is supposed to be the same place where Yui turned Tamahome into a bad dude in the original canon FY._


	9. Island of Illusion

" _My… heart…"_

 **\- Takiko Okuda, Fushigi Yuugi**

 _"Come into these arms again and lay your body down. The rhythm of this trembling heart is beating like a drum."_

 **\- Annie Lennox**

" _But now there's only love in the dark. Nothing I can say. A total eclipse of the heart."_

 **\- Bonnie Tyler**

" _You blew up two cars!"_

" _My heart bleeds."_

 **\- Viper**

" _It comes and goes. Some people have it for five seconds. Some their whole lives. He's a receiver now. Everything's coming in. He can't stop it. He can't slow it down. He can't even figure it out. It's like he's in a tunnel with a flashlight. But the light only comes on every once in a while. He gets a glimpse of something, but not enough to know what it is. Just enough to know it's there."_

—" _Jake, too?"_

" _Your son? Much better flashlight."_

 **\- that Kevin Bacon movie that isn't the Sixth Sense**

* * *

White candles crackled through the dreary temple chamber. Yumiko was lying flat on an altar. A pair of delicate hands carefully pulled open the front of her emerald robe to bare the left side of her sternum. The hands lifted something silver and sharp from the table before raising it into the air.

A mysterious figure dressed in black and green armor stood at the end of the altar just above Yumiko's head. An ornate commander's helmet made of turtle shells covered his face.

On one side of the altar stood the Priestess of Genbu's forlorn Celestial Warriors. Their heads were sad and sunken. Uruki was holding the toddler Prince Zalbiral in his arms. Behind the Warriors was another figure Yumiko didn't recognize: A strange man dressed entirely in white hiding his face under a wolf pelt. Long silver wisps dangled down his shoulders. No one ever reacted to his shadowy presence. It was a distant threat only Yumiko could sense.

Tomi and Naka stood on the other side of the altar. Tomi was holding the newborn Princess Tiantang in her arms. Naka was shaking her head in silence. Next to them were a flower maiden covering her mouth with a red silk kerchief, a merchant taking eggs out of a singing plover's cage, and a snake charmer shaving off his beard with the fangs of his pet serpent.

Baby Tiantang still had the symbol of Genbu traced in blue oil on her forehead. Tomi had asked the Yumiko if she would like to make the birth blessing, or if one Kutou's temple servants should perform the honors while Yumiko recovered. Yumiko insisted she should carry out her Priestessly duties in spite of her exhaustion.

The Executioner Priestess was kneeling on top of the altar and sitting over Yumiko's waist. She held a dagger over her head as her arms tensed like drawstrings. She was wearing royal white robes and a Solstice mask resembling a tiger. The girl's hair and dress reminded Yumiko of Uruki's cousin Filka, but there was something unfamiliar about her, like she was someone Yumiko had yet to meet. Despite the bloody act she was about to commit, despite threatening to end Yumiko's life at any instant, the only thing Yumiko felt for this girl was… Love.

The voice of the tall green ceremony leader boomed from his war helm.

"Priestess of Genbu, you have failed in your quest. A new Priestess must arise to redeem your disgrace. Do you wish to offer a final prayer?"

Yumiko answered in a voice reserved to her fate.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be whoever I was supposed to be. My only hope is I'm leaving my children with a brighter future."

"An honest and noble commitment," the faceless monk bowed his head. "You will be remembered with honor."

The end of the white Priestess's dagger gleamed in the candlelight. Her arms swung downward, thrusting the silver blade through Yumiko's flesh and into her beating heart.

Yumiko woke up with a gasp. The roof of the tent was dark. A bow and a sword were propped against each other on one of the support poles. The only sounds around her were owls, cicadas, and Uruki's quiet breathing.

The Crown Prince was sprawled on the hammock beside her with his head resting on her chest and sinking into a cushion soft with mother's milk. Yumiko's delicate fingers were wrapped around the back of his head and buried in his hair. His ear was pressed against her heart and heard it slowly beating. _Ba-dum… ba-dum… ba-dum…_

He stirred out of his slumber. He blinked and glanced up into his concubine's worried eyes, the only source of light in the darkness.

"Can't you sleep, Yumiko?"

"Tiantang. Zalbiral. Where are they?" Yumiko whispered in panic.

"Where they always are," Uruki smiled to calm her. "Far away from here with Misaki and Mariko looking after them. Waiting for Mommy and Daddy to finish their fight with Kutou."

It had been several weeks since Yumiko was reunited with her Warriors, but she was still disoriented by the whole ordeal. Her worry became Uruki's worry, and he sighed as he understood what was bothering her.

"Another bad dream?"

The Priestess nodded frightfully.

"It's okay, Yumiko," Uruki said as he stretched and rested his head back against her chest. "If anyone tries to hurt you, I'll be the first one to hear it. Your heart will tell me when you're in trouble."

Yumiko brushed her fingers through his hair as his words put her mind at ease. She closed her eyes and dozed back to sleep.

* * *

 _Author's note: I couldn't think of an abstract way to symbolize Morgaine from Mists of Avalon._


	10. Wheel of Misfortune

" _You beat us again? I'm never gonna live this down."_

" _You got that right."_

 **\- Star Fox Zero**

" _Look, I'm not too confident myself. But, hey, you built it. Drive it."_

" _I should have built me a pacemaker while I was at it!"_

 **\- Viper**

* * *

Silver rattled near Princess Efinluka's neck. She opened her eyes and found herself in the middle of a lucid dream. Glittering rock pillars formed a ring around her. Silver threads dangled from her wrists and throat like silk wreaths. A temple fire burned bright green in a basin beside her. The cavern floor was flat and carved in a circle.

Filka was wired to Teg's acoustic altar miles beneath the castle. Her father was standing in front of her.

This place had seen so much bloodshed that it no longer deserved to be called a sanctuary. Teg, murdered on this very platform the instant he thought he was being freed from slavery. Her beloved Hagas, twisted by an inhuman disease until he became someone she couldn't even recognize. And then… Filka didn't want to remember the rest. Neither of the Urumiya twins deserved to end like that.

"I'm sorry it's going to be you, Efinluka. You're all I have left," King Tegil said. His demeanor was grim, but in a strange way he was trying to comfort his daughter.

At his right side, Tegil was holding the Rowun family heirloom. It was a long emerald scroll rolled around a golden pin. The Genbu summoning ritual.

Filka's father was said to have destroyed all of the sacred documents when he assumed power years ago. But he had been hiding the scroll here in his Labyrinth stronghold the entire time. It was meant to be his last emergency measure.

Filka pulled against the twinkling silver threads and found they were as sturdy as iron. The king wasn't going to let her escape his audience.

"This all started with Temdan and his perfect little wife," Tegil said. His eyes were staring straight into Filka's, but his spirit was wandering through another time.

"I did away with them as peacefully as I could. They would have led this country astray with their foolish idol worship if I hadn't stopped them. All their incessant chatter about the blessings of Genbu and miracles of his coming Celestial Warriors would have been the doom of us all. I tried to raise their boy as my own to make things even. After almost two decades, I nearly helped him see how foolish my brother was."

The last of Tegil's nerve collapsed. He flew into an uncontrollable rage.

"If only that damned _girl_ hadn't come here! If only she hadn't started filling the public's ears with lies and ruining everything I've so carefully built! Without her, Hokkan could have become a nation ruled by justice and order, not enslaved by invisible monsters that only send us bad omens!"

He paced back and forth in front of his daughter as he screamed. His fists pressed against his temples as the veins on his neck turned red.

"All the disease in Sairou couldn't kill her! All the assassins in Konan couldn't kill her! My best guardsmen couldn't lay a finger on her or her wretched whelp! And now she has all the military power of Kutou bent to her will! The scripture calls for the Priestess to be a virgin! I thought it was over when I let my hapless nephew bed her! Every time I try to deal with her, she just becomes an ever greater threat!"

Filka was horrified by how far her father had gone. She tried to reason with him.

"Genbu doesn't want to enslave us! The prophecies are meant to warn us! They tell us what we need to change so we can fix things ourselves! Why would he bring someone like Yumiko here to help us if all he wanted was trouble? Why can't you understand that, father?"

King Tegil sighed in grief. Stepping closer to the princess, he lowered his voice.

"My poor Efinluka, they've even deluded you to their ways. I'll show these fools how kind their god can be. You'll be the conduit for unleashing him."

He squeezed the scroll in his fist.

"You're going to sacrifice me?" Filka gasped. "Father, think about-"

The king was shaking his head as he growled.

"You'll only be the medium. _My_ life will serve as the anchor once the spell is cast. Let _my_ rage feed all of its magic. No one will be able to stop it without striking me down."

"Whatever you try to do, it's never going to work!" Filka shouted in rebellion. "I'm not part of the prophecies! I'm not a Priestess from another world!"

"But you'll serve all the same. What you're going to summon for me isn't precisely Genbu," Tegil said with foreboding. A sinister chuckle slipped out of his scowling mouth.

"These people will see their god for what he truly is. A god who knows only cruelty and vengeance. A god who will punish them for forgetting divine mandate. A god who will lay waste to this entire world under an avalanche of ice. The earth will tremble and unleash centuries of sorrow. The sky will open and spew frozen death. Everything will start over anew and all of these superstitious pagans will be purged from existence."

"This doesn't make any sense!" Filka shouted. "You speak as though you're trying to spare me from death, but I'll be annihilated with everyone else! Not even the Celestial Guardians can survive something like that!"

The king held his fist at his side as his head hung forward. It was a loss he hadn't truly considered in all his desperation.

"I'll make sure your suffering is brief, Efinluka," he promised in a calm, almost regretful tone. "The barriers between this universe and the next will collapse. Priestesses will start dropping out of the sky like rain. I'll sacrifice them to wish you back as many times as I need to."

"Father, you've lost your mind! You'll destroy my world _and_ Yumiko's!" Filka cried hysterically.

Tegil instantly showed the rage burning in his eyes. He struck the back of his hand across his daughter's face with so much force that her entire body twisted sideways in its chains.

"Enough of that!" he screamed in her ear. "I didn't come all this way just for fate me to tell this isn't what it intended for me! Prophecies, legends, all worthless rabble meant to terrify us and bend us to the will of imaginary gods! What's so wrong about trying to forge your own destiny?"

"Father, don't do this. So many will die because of me…" Filka weakly pleaded. King Tegil only shook his head slowly.

"They were dead the moment they chose Genbu over their king, my sweet Efinluka. We're only separating their souls from their bodies so they can return to the Heavens they love so much."

Tegil pulled the golden pin out of the scroll. Instead of placing the key down and unraveling the gilded parchment as was customary, he kept the scroll clenched in his fist. He carefully pressed the pin to his daughter's neck until a drop of her blood coated its head. He then turned the pin toward his empty hand and cut a line into his palm, mixing Efinluka's blood with his. He crushed the Genbu scroll in his bleeding hand, staining the fragile parchment and smearing the ancient calligraphy incantations so they changed into something unholy.

He tossed the scroll into the temple fire. The green flames suddenly turned black. Smoke swirled around the altar and formed into a tornado.

The pillars around Filka hummed in a deep voice as they resonated with her chi. Her body broke into a seizure as the black smoke passed through her. She threw her head upwards and screamed toward the hollow cavern ceiling. The altar burst into a beacon of black light shooting straight up from beneath the castle.

Filka went limp from exhaustion as chaos unraveled around her. Her silver threads stopped her from collapsing entirely. In the depths of her terrified mind, with all the willpower she had left, she prayed.

" _Yumiko…_ _ **hurry…**_ _"_


	11. A Star is Born

" _Why? Though I love you. Why? Though we are going to be separated. Why? Only look at me."_

 **\- Akino Arai, Windaria**

" _Do you remember the time our eyes first met? Do you remember the time our hands first touched? That was the first time I set out on the journey of love. I love you so."_

 **\- Lynn Minmay, Macross**

" _Please hear me. I want to tell you. Please hear me. I wanna hear your voice."_

 **\- Aimer, Gundam Unicorn**

" _Please don't ask me to defend the shameful lowlands of the way I'm drifting gloomily through time. I reached inside myself today thinking there's got to be some way to keep my troubles distant."_

 **\- a-ha, The Sun Always Shines on TV**

" _It's a good day to die."_

 **\- Atreyu, The Neverending Story II**

* * *

Close to a year had passed since the Priestess was forced into exile. After she fled Hokkan with her shrine attendants, she quickly found refuge with allies in Sairou and Konan, where she was just as revered in their shrines. She spent months organizing a campaign against Kutou, cutting off their support to King Tegil's conspirators before invading the East completely and helping overthrow Kutou's corrupt dynasty. But the whole time she was fighting abroad, the whole time her son Zalbiral and her daughter Tiantang were being watched after by her friends in Konan, she never forgot she belonged in the North.

Kutou was only the first step in creating a safe world for her children. Now it was time for her to come home.

Four armies were gathered on the border between Hokkan and Konan. Troops from Sairou carried the banners of the white tiger. Troops from Konan carried the vermilion peacock. Troops representing Kutou's new peaceful regime ruled by Shaman-Queen Naka carried banners showing the blue and silver dragon. The fraction of the Hokkan army who remained devoted to their Priestess and followed her into exile held up the banner of the black and green tortoise.

Their combined forces were thousands in number, but they were still nothing compared to the unholy enemies that awaited them. Yumiko was mounted on her horse and staring at the horror in the northern skies.

The entire kingdom was engulfed in the shadows of swirling black storm clouds. In the distant dark haze, the silhouette of a black warrior as tall as a mountain stood over the palace and held the entire capital city hostage. The being was covered in fearsome black armor and wore a winter solstice mask over its eyes. Its back was plated with an impenetrable shell and sword-like quills arranged in a sinister mandala. It was a distortion of Genbu born from emptiness and neglect, feeding on the hatred sown by King Tegil and his occult followers. It was the final resort of a lunatic drunken with power: Punish the unruly masses so only those who deserved to be ruled survived. Only save those the king deemed fit.

The barriers of the universe itself were beginning to gradually collapse as the black clouds of an impending hailstorm spread over the sky. It was like words being blinked off the page and rewritten in blood. This false god wasn't just threatening the livelihood of Hokkan. Yumiko was staring at the end of the world.

She heard the echoing voice in her head. That deep, faraway voice that had been haunting her nightmares for weeks. The voice of a desperate beast-god.

" _Priestess. Priestess of Genbu. Use your strength to free me, I beg of you. You must hurry."_

Nothing would compare to the battle that faced her. The campaign against Kutou's mortal empire was a only small skirmish compared to King Tegil and the blood magic he had mastered. This was a war to determine her future, the entire universe's future. This was a holy crusade to save the heavens as well as the earth.

Yumiko had no idea how she could possibly win. She was overwhelmed with doubt. She was scared. When she turned her horse to look at the Genbu Warriors behind her, she could see the same thing on their faces. Especially Uruki's.

Her thoughts sank back to the final moments of Hagas. He had betrayed the rest of the Celestial Guardians by murdering his own twin brother to absorb his half of the Urumiya sign, becoming the sole Guardian who defied the rest. Poor Teg, loyal to Genbu until the end, while his brother became a monster consumed by desperation and disease.

She could still see Hagas on the ground with arrows sticking through his spine, thrashing in a pool of blood as he screamed.

" _This world is already a shit hole! You're all fools for putting your faith in this bed warmer! I'll being laughing at you in Hell when all of this is crushed under a glacier!_

She shuddered as she shook the terrible memory from her head. Then she remembered Madoka's final words.

 _"Follow Genbu's will before these fools destroy everything with theirs. Restore the dynasty. Put our true king where he belongs."_

Every face she saw in the gathered armies was grim and uncertain. Everyone was looking up to her to give them a sign, to fill them with some shred of hope. They were looking for leadership in their darkest hour. Yumiko didn't know how she alone could possibly raise their morale.

But playing make-believe as a fearless hero had gotten her this far.

The Priestess clenched her horse's reins as she wrestled with her fears. The beginnings of a speech started to stir in her mind as she looked at the four sets of flags whipping against the cold wind. She silently mouthed what she thought she might say, lowering her head and berating herself under her breath when she decided the wording didn't sound right. It was a speech she had never read before and never rehearsed, but it seemed to glide through her thoughts like it was part of her very nature. Either a force from the beyond was using her as an oracle to transmit a message, or her creative streak was just starting to kick in.

Finally, she raised her eyes to the people depending on her and began to cry out.

"We gather on this day from the four corners of the Earth and the four palaces of the Heavens! We fight in the name of sacred law, faith, and virtue!"

She pulled her reins to keep her horse steady in the rising winds. She reached over her shoulder and lifted a single arrow out of the quiver on her back. She raised the arrow over her head in her fist as she continued her rally.

* * *

High on the peak of Mount Taikyoku, panic and hysteria reigned supreme. The Nyan-Nyans were clustered around coal fires frantically waving their arms and blowing with their tiny mouths in a rush to heat the shrine for the coming perpetual winter. Taiitsukun sat in her meditation throne waving a giant paper fan in front of her face as the sweat streaked down her brow. The once quiet holy ground was devolving into chaos.

But then Yumiko's voice began to resonate through the air.

" _We gather on this day from the four corners of the Earth and the four palaces of the Heavens! We fight in the name of sacred law, faith, and virtue!"_

Taiitsukun and her heavenly handmaidens all stopped what they were doing in the same instant. The Nyan-Nyan's curiously looked up at the ceiling. The old sage muttered to herself in disbelief.

"That invocation. She's almost saying the… No. She couldn't be. It has to be a coincidence."

Yumiko's voice echoed through the mountain shrine again.

" _I relieve thee, Genbu, Warden of the North! With thy holy power, we will smash the evil which threatens you!"_

Taiitsukun's shock faded as she closed her eyes and lowered her head. Her lips curved into a perceptive smile.

"So our little songbird knows how to squawk on her own. This was what you were gambling on all along. Wasn't it, Genbu?"

* * *

The soldiers' faces filled with bravery and honor as Yumiko made her speech, as if the thousands of them were all being anointed with Genbu's spirit. Yumiko could see the resolve returning to her six Celestial Warriors. Uruki, Tomite, Hatsui, Inami, and Hikitsu stood in a row. Namame was transformed as Hikitsu's horse. Yumiko envisioned Teg as the true Urumiya sitting on his own horse alongside them, smiling proudly to serve with his friends.

"All who adore you offer their lives to the seven palaces of Heaven for your sake! Listen to our war chant as it ascends to the skies!"

The armies cheered in unison as they were inspired by the Priestess's words. Yumiko focused for a brief moment on Uruki in the celebration. The two of them would finally be able to become husband and wife by Hokkan law if they lived through this day. If they saved the kingdom together.

Yumiko guided her horse so she faced the clouds looming over the palace for the last time. Her own courage swelled as she finished her rally.

"Hold steadfast in the Sky for us as we cleanse the Earth of these demons cursing you!"

Yumiko thrust her fist forward, pointing the end of her arrow straight for Hokkan's capital. She spurred her horse into a gallop, leading the four armies in their heroic charge.

* * *

 _Author's note: Hey did you guys ever watch Windaria?_

 _Author's note 2: I switched the Urumiya Bros. around because if I used the canon version I'd technically just be repeating the Chidori arc I wrote for Kagami Makes an Omelette._

 _Author's note 3: On a more personal note I'd like to point out that the Urumiya in the manga comes off as an incredibly uncanny character when you're the guy who wrote the Chidori arc from Kagami Makes an Omelette._

 _Author's note 4: The concept for Shadow Genbu ties in with Eikoden, but the design I had in mind is a Fushigi Yuugi-ized Providence Gundam via Talpa from Ronin Warriors. Gotta have the Providence Gundam final boss motif._


	12. Second Chance

" _I go. You stay."_

 **\- The Iron Giant**

 _"Any other ideas?"_

 _"Just one. It's gonna be messy."_

 **\- Viper**

" _Lalah Sune could have been like a mother to me!"_

 **\- Char Aznable two seconds before getting turned into an astral pancake  
**

* * *

Filka was alive. Battered by dark magic and with her chi almost drained to nothing, but alive. She rested peacefully in the Priestess's arms as the Celestial Warriors broke the silver chains off of her. Her father was sprawled lifelessly on the circular altar floor several yards away. A single green and black ceremonial arrow was sticking through his twisted heart.

"Priestess?" Filka murmured as her eyes weakly gazed up at Yumiko.

"Just rest, Filka. It's over. We won." Yumiko forced herself to smile to put the princess at ease. She would have to apologize later.

No one knew the worst was yet to come.

"You fools," Tegil spat on the cavern floor in his final breath. "You damned fools. Nothing... can stop the... end... now..."

The king died bitter and hateful.

The entire crystal altar shook as another black tornado came screaming down from the storm raging on Hokkan's surface. The Priestess and her Warriors heard a massive boot stomping through the earth as the fake phantom Genbu began his assault on the royal capital. The crystals covering the Labyrinth walls resonated with a horrifying deep drone, feeding the impending hailstorm with even more power.

"What the hell? I thought saving Filka was supposed to stop this thing!" Inami shouted over the chaos.

None of Yumiko's Celestial Guardians knew how to stop the destruction of their world. None of the human ones, at least.

" _I'll take care of this, Priestess."_

Namame's sad voice echoed through Yumiko's mind. He had taken the form of a roughly human man six feet tall and with a body carved out of sandstone. His hollow eyes were fixed on the spot where Filka had been chained.

Namame, the little stone golem who could. He had been one of first (and easily most bizarre) Genbu Warriors Yumiko had discovered after Uruki. She found him living with a young oracle named Anlu during a pilgrimage to a lonely mountain quarry. A pilgrimage that ended in disaster when the oracle was assassinated by a spy and Namame went insane. He only calmed down when Yumiko's gentle motherly instincts broke through to him.

"I… I don't understand!" Yumiko sputtered in terror to her stone Guardian. Her flailing robes put her in danger of getting sucked straight up into the wind. "What can you do?"

" _Don't you see, Priestess?"_ the living rock being said. His neck creaked as he glanced toward the ceiling of the underground temple. Yumiko gazed up with him and, seeing past the swirling black carnage, she realized how beautiful the crystals looked.

" _This entire structure was carved from a single Star Life Stone deposit. It's the same as me. These have been here since Genbu first created Hokkan and her people. The magic that sleeps here is enough to clear the storm. All I have to do is… unleash it."_

Yumiko put the hints together and realized what Namame was saying. He was going to use a ploy that amounted to self-destructing to set off a chain reaction that would negate Tegil's corrupted summoning spell. Her eyes grew wide.

"Wait! There has to be another way!" she shouted in rejection. "There's always another way!"

" _Not this time, Priestess,"_ Namame's voice calmly rumbled through her head. He turned to see her with his unmoving stone face. He glanced toward each of the Celestial Guardians accompanying him.

" _Tell them for me once this is over, Priestess. Tell them I lost my only friend before I met all of you. Then you became my friends. I can't lose all of you too."_

Yumiko's head sunk as the corners of her eyes grew misty. Her hands curled into fists inside her robes. She felt like she was being forced to sacrifice one of her own children.

Namame slowly held out his stony palm toward her.

" _Priestess, please return the amulet to me."_

Yumiko remorsefully pulled off the gold and green necklace that always decorated the front of her gown. She looked into its polished gem a final time. It was a magic artifact, a control switch, and a tracking device all rolled into one. The young oracle had given to her in her last moments so Yumiko could use it like a compass to find the remaining Celestial Warriors. It's what connected Yumiko to Namame and let her hear his thoughts, and it connected Namame to Anlu's spirit.

Swallowing her tears, she placed the necklace in his hand. He gratefully bowed his head to her.

" _Now go. I want you all to be safe. She wants you to be safe, too."_

Namame slowly walked toward the center of the stone altar as the necklace began to twinkle in his hand. Yumiko helped Uruki lift his cousin Filka onto his back before they started running together. Tomite, Hikitsu, Hatsui, and Inami charged in front of them to keep the escape route clear.

Yumiko heard Namame's voice echo in her mind again. For the first time without the amulet's help, his words rumbled crystal clear in her ears.

 _"Thank you, Priestess. Thank you for taking her place."  
_

The moment the Priestess and her Warriors had escaped the eye of the storm, it happened. The universe became completely silent as time stood still for a split second. Then there was a sound like a volcano exploding in a wind tunnel. All of the life energy that had been lying dormant under Hokkan's palace since the beginning of history burst into a towering spire of brilliant green light. The light flew up the cavern, through the palace foundations, through courtyard, and high into the black wintry sky.

The monstrous black warrior that had been looming over the kingdom dissolved into ash and disappeared from the air. The streaming light spread into an emerald shockwave that broke up the storm and made the dark clouds harmlessly dissipate. The screaming winds stopped and the dreary overcast faded, leaving only a clear blue sky.

Yumiko and her allies emerged from the entrance of the cavern and could see the sky with their own eyes. They had to squint because they had forgotten the world could be so bright. Over their heads, they saw a white cloud that they all thought resembled Namame in his tiny doll form, finally reunited with his oracle.

* * *

 _Author's note: Namame is the Justice Gundam to Tegil's Providence Gundam._

 _Author's note 2: Literally the same as what happens in the canon manga, except without Takiko spending one of her wishes and killing a giant chunk of herself to get Namame to do a thing that for all accounts he was already pre-destined and completely set up to do whether or not she wished for it. Hey, remember in the original FY when Miaka had to use one of her wishes and agonizingly murder a third of her own life force to get Mitsukake to use up all of his life force in a self-sacrificing mass healing spell that was completely within his nature to do by himself anyway? No? It didn't happen that way? Oh, right. The original FY was written better._


	13. Life's a Masquerade

_"You son of a...! You killed my family! You tormented Aya mercilessly!"_

 **\- Chidori Kuruma, Ayashi no Ceres**

 _"I convinced myself it was justified to get the car on the street."_

 **\- Commander Delia Thorne, Viper**

* * *

Yumiko was looking down on a peaceful world from the heavens. The trail of her priestess gown dangled from the ends of her legs like the emerald reeds of a weeping tree. Genbu had brought her to his home in the clouds for just a brief moment so he could offer her his praise in person. He was standing just behind her with a supportive hand resting on the back of her shoulder, a father enjoying the scenery with his adopted daughter.

The beast-god stood at least a whole foot taller than the top of Yumiko's head. In his human projection, he looked like a middle-aged warrior with a sharp mustached face who could still express a degree of kindness. He remained quiet so his priestess could appreciate the view.

Yumiko saw everything from the sky. Not just Hokkan, but Sairou, Konan, and Kutou as well. All sprawled out thousands of miles below her feet like a giant geographic compass. Her face was glowing with joy.

Her husband Uruki was down there somewhere, sitting on his throne in the north and ruling the country in harmony as its rightful king. Yumiko had given him a strong infant son the first year she was with him, followed by a beautiful daughter only a year later. It was hard to believe she already had a third one on the way.

Taiitsukun had (begrudgingly) provided clues on where to find the first few Celestial Guardians in spite of already writing Yumiko off as a total loss. The rest had revealed themselves in time, until Yumiko had united all seven.

Her adventures with her Guardians had taken her to all four corners of the world. Smoothing over hostilities with Sairou and helping their kingdom cure a desert plague. Helping the Konan court resolve a spy crisis. Combining forces with the south and the west to halt the rise of tyranny in Kutou. And at last returning to Hokkan, where her second life had all began, to defeat the final enemy threatening the world and make everything right for the dynasty's future generations. Filka was saved and nursed back to health. She offered her gratitude by joining the new royal court. Taiitsukun personally appeared to congratulate Yumiko on everything she had accomplished and apologized profusely for ever thinking less of the Priestess.

The title "Priestess of Genbu" became as revered on the battlefield as it was to the common people. Yumiko would make a prayer for Hokkan's protection and victory at one of the temples, and then she would join her followers in the fields with a saddle under her lap, an arrow quiver on her back, and turtle shell lamellar tucked into her ceremonial robes. She would gallop across the front lines with long streams of jade and obsidian flowing from her dress, making sure the soldiers were safe and offering her blessings to inspire them. The seven Celestial Warriors would closely guard her every step of the way, but Uruki was the only one who could always keep up with her pace. And any time she had to give a speech in front of the camp, she always spoke from her heart and not from a piece of paper.

Yumiko had come here as a terrified child surrounded by a hostile world. Now she was an accomplished war general and she still wasn't even in her 20s.

Genbu brushed his hand on Yumiko's shoulder as he began to speak. His words carried like the slowly drifting clouds moving past them.

"This is the universe you've created, Priestess. You've done more than I could ever ask of you. You've cleansed your country of the non-believers and rooted out the seeds of corruption throughout every land."

Yumiko humbly lowered her head as she smiled, almost becoming bashful again.

"This realm will know eons of peace thanks to your struggles," Genbu continued. "You've fulfilled everything I had planned for you. Now you can forge any future you desire."

The god's final words made Yumiko's expression sharply sink. Her robe rustled as she slowly glanced over her shoulder and past his hand. Venom dimly gleamed in her eyes.

"You…" she growled softly, her lips bitterly twisting.

She spun around in the air and looked up to face him completely. Her mouth was ready to scream. Her tear ducts were ready to erupt.

Her thoughts rushed back to the world she had known in some dark and ancient recess of her mind. She had thought it was all behind her. She had thought she had moved on and the few memories she had left couldn't hurt her anymore. But looking at Genbu in the eye reminded her of everything she had lost. She was struck with the realization she was standing face to face with the _thing_ that had caused all of her suffering.

"You used me as a tool to fight your war against these people?" she said in anger. "Everything I've done has just been your scheme? I'm not even supposed to be part of this place!"

She shrieked and pounded her fists to his chest like she was back in front of tower of iron tortoise shells with lightning crashing over her head. Genbu flinched only slightly from his beaten chest, more so with a look of bewilderment instead of guilt. He was almost unmoved by her cries.

"I merely brought you to the ocean. You churned the waves of destiny yourself. You started with tiny ripples and created your own fearsome storm. It could only be done by someone with the grace and insight from your world. You were the best option out of many."

"What about the children I had with Uruki?" Yumiko demanded to know. "Were they just part of your game plan too?"

"Only your first," Genbu said stoically.

"You bastard!" she screamed in despair.

"Does that make your son any less a creation of your romance? Would you love your Celestial Guardian any differently without my blessing?"

"N-no, but…"

"I led you toward a path that benefits us both. It was you who said to use the strategy that spared the most lives."

"Because you manipulated me!" Yumiko hissed.

"Wasn't that how you truly felt? Were you not acting on your own ideals? I may have given you direction, but you still made your own choices on how to play the part."

"You stole my life!" she yelled in rage.

"I gave you the life you always dreamed of," he calmly explained.

"At the cost of everyone I love!"

"I guided you. I protected you."

"You dropped me into the middle of those monsters in the slums!"

"I helped you grow strong so you could survive in this harsh world. Just as the caterpillar must struggle out of its cocoon before it can become a beautiful butterfly, I had to let you learn to fend for yourself. It had to be this way so you would never have to ask me for three wishes and rely on my power. I spared you from being consumed by me."

"You trapped me here! None of this would have happened if you hadn't brought me here! You took away everyone I cared about from my world, just to get what you wanted out of me! You might as well have gobbled me up!"

Yumiko's fists dropped like limp stalks of grass. Her head hung in defeat. Tears rippled down her face as her robes rippled down her arms. Her entire body quivered from her sobbing.

Genbu looked down at her solemnly.

"Priestess, you don't understand what you've prevented in these past few years. As the first god, I had free reign when and where to build the bridge between our two worlds. Let me share my knowledge with you. Watch how this play could have ended with a different cast."

His palm rested on the top of her shivering black hair, petting a gentle circle around her scalp in a clockwise motion. Her mind was shown glimpses of the universe as it could have been.

She envisioned a black void filled with far off star constellations. Seven belonged to her Celestial Warriors, but the rest she didn't recognize. She saw only ghostly shadows of girls like her in robes. She didn't see faces and she never learned their names, but all of their emotions came channeling through her in a condensed matter of seconds. Another Priestess of Genbu, half-devoured by her god and killed by a close relative after all her wishes were granted. The Priestess of Byakko, who fell in love with her Celestial Warrior and survived all her trials, only to be denied her happy ending and have her heart ripped out for decades. The Priestess of Seiryuu, who devoted herself to a madman and found out everything she did was a mistake that caused the slaughter of thousands. The Priestess of Suzaku was the only one who came out relatively unscathed.

"It's not fair…" Yumiko whimpered in a shivering breath. Her voice grew softer, but her tears never relented. "You put all of this on me to save them. Why do you torture us like this in the first place? None of this is fair!"

Genbu pulled his hand away. Yumiko looked up at him with her tear-stained face, desperately searching for a meaning to it all.

"I chose you because you brought all of their best traits with you. The selflessness of my other Priestess. The patience of the Priestess of Byakko. The passion of the Priestess of Suzaku. The resilience of the Priestess of Seiryuu. This world and possibly even yours would have been destroyed in chaos if at least one Priestess wasn't cast to play the part of the heroine."

Yumiko grew quite. Her eyes dried as she shook her head. She simply looked down toward the universe underneath her, the universe she had saved. Her thoughts drifted in a thousand different directions and it took all of her effort not to feel dizzy.

"If you could return to your home, would you really want to abandon the family you've started here?" Genbu asked.

"Of course not," Yumiko broke her silence to answer. "I'd just wind up coming back and staying here. I love them more than anything in any universe. I'm too tied up in this world's history now."

She looked back up at the god.

"I just wish I could have said goodbye before all of this started."

Her head sunk again. Her eyes stared down at the world, sad and lonely.

Genbu, a timeless being predating the universe's existence, couldn't comprehend the way this small mortal woman was thinking. He couldn't understand how she could still feel so miserable with all the benefits and rewards laid out in front of her. He found it a foolish but curious behavior. A decidedly human behavior.

But he could still feel sympathy toward humanity.

"Then perhaps I can make this fair," the beast-god said.

Genbu raised the fingers of his right hand. In the air just beside Yumiko, her old school bag appeared. The last time she had seen it was when it went flying into a pool of mud during her first night in Hokkan. She thought she had lost it forever, yet here it was completely clean and dry.

"I never planned having you create a Shinzaho since you were always meant to stay here," the god said distantly. "I'll have to compromise with what you brought me."

The bag opened on its own. A tiny object Yumiko remembered from a time long ago floated out toward her hand. It was a single 100 yen coin.

She stared at the face of the coin as it rested in her palm. The modern factory-minted copper flickered bright green and reflected in her eyes.

"How many people here knew this is what you always wanted to happen?" Yumiko asked, her eyes staying on her palm. "Who else has been using me?"

"You're the only one who's heard the truth," the beast-god said. "Everyone in the world below you was acting on their own free will and following their own beliefs. I hid myself behind the curtain even from Taiitsukun. I'm sorry."

"And now that I'm here to stay, the book isn't going to pull anyone else in?" Yumiko asked for reassurance.

"The story is over," Genbu responded. "You've saved more souls than even I could, Priestess. Now I set you free to write your own epilogue."

He hovered half a foot closer. He cupped his hands around the sides of his priestess's open palm.

"You've lost your rite to summon me. The continuity of this world depends on you until your descendants are ready to pick up the pen. I can never send you back to your original home, but I can help you reach out to it just once."

Yumiko closed her eyes and wrapped her fingers over the coin. Genbu carefully locked his hands around her small fist and channeled all his will. Rays of bright green shot out from between his knuckles, making Yumiko's hand feel bundled in warmth.

"Meditate on who you want to contact the most, someone most likely to share your blessing with the others you think about," the god instructed. "Imagine what you want them to see. Think hard on what you need to tell them. The message you send must be brief, something that will transfer easily between our two universes. Stress the threads of space and time too far and you'll lose your only chance to communicate."

It was painful for Yumiko to try and fit all her feelings into a single sentence. There was so much she wanted to explain, so many conversations she wanted to have, so much time she wanted to make up for, but almost all of it would have to go unsaid. She needed words that would explain what had happened to her and how she wanted to be remembered. She needed words that would tell the people she cared about not to worry about her. She needed words with enough weight that it would give them closure. She had to summarize the life she was never able to live in a single inch of metal. She wasn't even sure if she could make it work.

Her lips voiced three simple syllables.

* * *

A mother and father were cleaning up old family artifacts in their attic. The kids were all grown up and out of the house. The older ones were married with families of their own. The youngest one had just shipped off to college. It was time to clear out some empty space.

The father came upon an old dusty sheet draped over a rectangular piece of furniture. He pulled it away to uncover the old nursery crib of one of his daughters. The mere sight of it brought back a wave of fond memories, as well as many painful ones.

It had been seven years since Yumiko went missing. The last time anyone had ever heard of her was when she went to the library after school one Tuesday afternoon, and then she just vanished into thin air. All the investigators ever turned up was an abandoned math worksheet in one of the study rooms. Her parents had always joked about how she daydreamed so much that sooner or later she was going to get sucked into one of her old fantasy books. Now the joke lacked any humor it once conveyed.

The father started taking the things out of the crib to lighten its load. It had been stored away with a jumbled time capsule of Yumiko's life. A fingerpaint drawing from when she was a toddler. A full-length novel. A few photos of her small circle of friends. Outgrown school shoes. An old baby rattle. A stuffed turtle.

As the father lifted up the empty crib, a small circular object slipped out from between the mattresses, wobbled across the floor, and came to rest on its side on the wooden planks. It was a coin that had no earthly reason to be in the place where he found it.

The father crouched to pick it up and inspected it in his palm. It was made of an unusual melding of copper and bronze. The edges were uneven and clearly minted by hand. The craftsmanship had to have dated back to antiquity, but no historian in the world would ever be able to trace its exact make or origin.

The face of the coin was stamped with the likeness of a young woman who must have been held to the highest regard in her time. She was facing toward the right in typical profile position. She was depicted with long straight hair brushed down the back of her neck and a small bundle of lotus blossoms tucked above her ear. No matter how closely he looked, the father couldn't see any indication of a motto or denomination anywhere along its front side. He was holding something priceless.

The coin couldn't have been more than an inch wide, yet its female icon conveyed so much honor, determination, and independence in just a few raised lines. She invoked the likes of Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, or Himiko. But above all, the upwards corner of the woman's lips and the tiny dimple on her cheek hinted that she was happy.

The father held the coin closer to his eyes and squinted, studying the features of the metal face. The angle of her chin. The depth of her eye. The dainty way her nose bridged. The shape of her ear lobe, barely sticking out from under her brushed hair.

He stumbled backwards with his hand over his mouth, almost letting the coin fall between the attic floorboards. The mother rushed to his side to see what had frightened him. The father picked up the coin and showed her the profile engraving. Almost instantly, she saw it too. It had to be Yumiko.

With their throats growing dry and their eyes becoming damp, they turned the coin over. All that was on the plain back of the coin were three calligraphy symbols pressed in like a blacksmith's stamp. The first and last characters were Chinese. The middle character was exactly the same in ancient Mandarin and modern Japanese. It struck both parents like a tiny whisper echoing through time.

 _Wo Ai Ni._


	14. Green No More

Yumiko died at the fair age of 48. She and Uruki ushered Hokkan into an unprecedented era of peace for three decades following the Genbu crusades. Farmers and craftsmen who had been considered the lowest rungs of society under Tegil's rule were given limitless support from King Limdo and held voting power in the royal court. Equality was promoted throughout the other three kingdoms by expanding trade routes, allowing free worship of all four guardian deities, and issuing regular diplomatic missions. Sairou never faced another medical crisis. Kutou never again pushed for conquest.

King Limdo and Yumiko had six children during the height of their reign. Their names were Zalbiral, Tiantang, Delkhii, Teg, Madoka, and Donatello. In her late 30s, Yumiko dared fate by having another daughter. The birth faced several complications and took its toll on Yumiko's body, nearly killing both mother and daughter in the process. The baby turned out perfectly healthy, but Yumiko was no longer the vigorous Priestess she had been in her younger days. She named her precious little girl "Ai."

Yumiko spent her later years sitting quietly by her husband's side and advising him on every decision he made. When the commotion of the throne room became too much for her, she would spend most of her time relaxing in the gardens and fascinating her younger children with her countless tales of battle and romance. Each day, it seemed, Uruki's bronze hair would turn a little bit more silver while Yumiko's vision grew a little less sharp.

One winter, she caught a small bout of pneumonia. She fought it for three days before succumbing in her sleep. King Limdo sat at her bedside offering her any comfort she asked for, just as he had for the first three days she was in Hokkan so long ago. The older princes and princesses stayed close to their father to share his grief. 10-year-old Ai cried inconsolably and wouldn't calm down until her aunt Filka started telling her one of her mother's favorite stories.

The throne room became a less festive place after Yumiko was gone. In the months when the people of Hokkan were recovering from their loss, King Limdo was known to always speak kindly of the late queen. It was a way of dealing with his own pain.

" _It's better she went first. She was only a guest in this world, after all. It wouldn't have been right if I abandoned her here."_

He knew his own days were reaching their end. With his heart failing and his spirit unable to continue life's adventure without the heavenly being who had delivered his kingdom, he peacefully joined Yumiko a year later. He was 50.

Zalbiral was named King in his 33rd year. As it became tradition, he had wed a common girl from one of the foreign nations when he was Crown Prince. The joyous coronation of the new king and queen healed the heartbreak of the previous year.

Hokkan continued to prosper for centuries under the wise leadership of Yumiko's and Limdo's children and grandchildren. Whenever there was political strife, the royal family always devised a peaceful solution in accordance to Genbu's teachings. Whenever a great evil would threaten the North or any of its neighboring allies, there was always a resourceful Priestess who rose up to protect the land. But that's a story for another time.


	15. White Light

" _And then mommy kissed daddy, and the angel told the stork, and the stork flew down from heaven and left a diamond under a leaf in the cabbage patch, and the diamond turned into a baby."_

" _Our parents are having a baby too."_

" _They had sex."_

 **\- Addams Family Values**

 _"Your father was captain of a Starship for twelve minutes. He saved eight hundred lives, including your mother's, and yours. I dare you to do better."_

 **\- Star Trek (2009)**

" _What the fuck do you call a hundred and twenty-five murders in five years?"_

" _A work in progress."_

 **\- The Punisher (1989)**

 _"Driver's Ed is over. It's time to give Junior the keys to the station wagon, dad."_

 **\- Viper**

" _UBTREAS."_

 **\- By the Waters of Babylon**

* * *

The sandstorm swept through the grotto's narrow entrance with the force of a tiger's roar. Ai journeyed deeper and deeper into the darkness until the harsh desert winds of Sairou were only a distant whistle behind her. If her research was correct, she was somewhere in the sealing chamber.

She unraveled her turban to uncover her mouth and the tiny beauty mark under her bottom right lip. She pulled off the pair of round monocles that had been shielding her eyes from the sand and let them dangle from their chains around her neck. She checked her belt to make sure she hadn't lost any equipment in the rush. There was a canteen, a milky crystal shard, a handful of digging tools, and the most sophisticated crossbow royalty could afford. Ai always fashioned herself as a girl ahead of her time.

Just getting out of Hokkan by herself had been tricky. Her siblings were insistent the world could be a dangerous place and she should never travel without an entire guard battalion escorting her, but she knew they would only slow her down. Sometimes she wished her parents had just been a couple of country bumpkins. There was no sense of adventure when you were constantly adored as the youngest princess of the country and had dozens of people pampering your every need.

Ai shook her head and wiggled her braided black pigtails free from her turban. She flung her hood behind her shoulders as her hazel eyes scanned the inside of the grotto. She spotted her target almost instantly.

Only a few yards away stood an old stone column covered in paper talismans. The ancient carved rock looked like it was on the verge of crumbling into dust within the next couple of centuries. Ai cautiously walked toward it with her palm held out. She concentrated all of her chi into the end of her hand and touched the column. Then she gasped.

Visions flooded through her mind's eye. Fangs gleamed from snarling striped jaws. The constellation symbols for Subaru, Tokaki, Amefuri, Tatara, Koki, Karasuki, and Toroki throbbed through her head in pounding heartbeats. All the stars converged and blinded her with their light.

Ai saw spires covered in glittering lights built so high they reached into the sky. People in strange clothes rode around inside horseless metal carriages. A massive glowing pane was hanging from the tall structures. It showed a giant blue-haired sorceress chanting an arcane spell into a small bulb-shaped wand and waving her arm in harmony with bright pink and purple lights. Fragments of words shimmered across the bottom of the window on a magical scroll. _OKYO DOM /10/1994._

Ai was being shown a glimpse of the mythical birthplace of her mother. The City of the Gods.

The sky above the glittering spires was swirling in pitch black. A giant pale phantom with wisps of silver hair loomed over the city on the eve of its damnation. A white tiger the size of a fortress crouched over the town to protect its people. Standing on top of the tiger's head was a mysterious figure in a long white gown with small gold ornaments shaped like cat ears in her veil. A flock of metal falcons flew past the phantom in the sky, illuminating the darkness with their trails of spiral smoke. Their wings were painted with the characters JASDF and XF-1A.

Ai backed away from the stone column gasping for breath. Everything she had seen had rushed through her mind in a single blink, enough to leave her feeling disoriented and a little sick. She shook her head to fight off her daze.

An invisible hand began tearing off the talismans wrapped around the pillar. Ai calmly lifted the crossbow from her belt and locked a crystal-tipped bolt into the loading mechanism.

One after another, the talismans ripped to pieces and dropped to the sandy floor of the grotto. The veins in the rock glowed white. The rock trembled in a small earthquake and exploded into pebbles.

A ghostly man stood in the remnants of the pillar. He had long silver hair that dangled down his black robe. A gold diadem adorned with a ruby sat on his forehead.

The demon known as Tenkou had awakened from his long hibernation.

"Ah, Priestess," he said in an ominous and treacherous voice. "I've been waiting so long to meet you. I'm surprised you've come to me when you're only a child."

"Child?" Ai fearlessly said to the evil spirit. She was aiming her crossbow for his chest. "Thirteen makes me a full-grown lady in Hokkan society."

"How peculiar," Tenkou remarked. "You're not supposed to become the Priestess for another five years. And your hair is darker than I predicted."

A grisly smirk crept across his lips. He pointed his palm toward Ai.

"No matter. Death will welcome you all the same."

Dark energy burst from his hand. Ai easily dodged by disappearing from sight. One second, wind started to swirl around her in a green aura. The next second, she was standing behind Tenkou with her crossbow still drawn.

Tenkou was shocked when his spell struck empty air. Slowly, he peered over his shoulder and turned around. His brow furrowed in confusion.

"You have the scent of a Priestess, but you harness the elements like a Celestial Warrior. What _are_ you?" he said in the closest emotion to fear a demon could feel.

"A bad omen," Ai snickered.

Tenkou stared at his shorter opponent with yellow demonic eyes. His expression rapidly changed from puzzlement to frustration.

"I sense your connection to the other world, yet you're somehow… different. What clan do you descend from?"

"My clan?" Ai blinked. "My dad's name was Limdo."

Tenkou's eyes started to grow wide. Ai continued.

"He used to be the King of Hokkan. He kicked the bucket and my brother Zalbiral took over. My mom was the Priestess of Genbu."

"This timeline can't be right," Tenkou said in bewilderment. "The manuscript said Limdo rules Hokkan by himself for a century. He never takes a wife after the Priestess of Genbu dies. Efinluka is supposed to marry Urumiya and he names one of their descendants as the next emperor. He leaves no direct heirs."

Ai kept her crossbow aimed at Tenkou while she gave her own account of history.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Mom and dad led Hokkan together for thirty years. She died three years ago. Dad's been gone for two. I've got four big brothers who would disagree with you on how many heirs he has."

"And the Priestess's name? It wasn't Ta-" Tenkou started to ask.

"Her name was Yumiko," Ai firmly cut him off.

"This isn't possible," Tenkou said with increasing disbelief. "That means you're not... This isn't the age of Byakko. I've revived too soon."

He closed his eyes and slowly nodded. A thought stirred in his ageless mind.

"You said you were the youngest. Your mother left you with elder sisters, I presume."

"Tiantang and Madoka," Ai said.

"Seiryuu and Suzaku," Tenkou replied instantly. He chuckled lightly under his breath.

"So that's the game the Four Divines want to play against me. You're a Priestess who descends from both worlds. A maiden who can tame the celestial beasts with no fear of being consumed."

A sinister grin crossed his lips as her glanced toward his shorter adversary.

"I may have finally met someone I can call my equal."

Ai tilted her head and squinted with one eye. She finished lining up her shot.

"Sorry. You're not my type."

Her index finger pulled the trigger on the crossbow. The crystal bolt struck Tenkou through his sternum like a dart plunging into a solid tree trunk. He looked down smirking at his impaled chest, completely unfazed by the weapon.

"Pathetic girl. I could have made your Priestess robe be your wedding gown. Do you really think you can defy a god?"

"If there's one thing my mom taught me, it's that gods aren't perfect," Ai replied with a smirk of her own.

The bolt exploded in a delayed magic combustion. Tenkou staggered backward grasping his chest. Blood seeped out of the wound in a small red geyser.

"What is this?" the demon shouted in pain. "You can't hurt me!"

"A present from one of your old pals," Ai said cryptically. "You forgot waking up early means part of you is still mortal."

"This isn't over, Priestess!" Tenkou howled in rage. "This day will be your undoing!"

The chamber rumbled from his scream. His hair spread through the air as he faded into a stream of white wisps. The grotto was left in silence when he was gone.

Ai sighed and wiped her forehead. Deep down she knew none of this was going to be easy. She put away her crossbow and pulled the crystal shard out of her belt. She held the white rock to her ear and spoke.

"Come in, old lady."

The shard twinkled against her ear as the tiny high-pitched voice of a Nyan-Nyan resonated through its cracks.

" _Hey Taiitsukun, your crystal thingy is talking!"_

Ai could hear what sounded like a small scuffle on the other end of the line. Then the voice of Taiitsukun grumbled in her ear.

" _I'd prefer if you didn't address me as 'old lady.' 'Your Eminence' will work just fine."_

Ai and Taiitsukun loved to tug at each other's patience, but the bond they shared was closer than any other Priestess who knew or would have known the sacred oracle. From the moment Ai ran outside of the palace sobbing her eyes out following her mother's passing, Taiitsukun had been sitting on her mountain keeping a close watch over her. This was the youngest daughter the Priestess of Genbu had spent such much effort loving and protecting, ultimately shortening her own life in the process. And when Yumiko was that assertive about an idea, it had to mean _something._

Taiitsukun saw a chance to make up for how crass she had been toward the Priestess of Genbu in her youth. For three years, Taiitsukun regularly appeared at the palace in person so she could help comfort and slowly groom Ai through her childhood. Over time, Ai had grown from unlikely little girl on the lowest branch of her family tree into a strong (if somewhat jaded) young woman. The type of young woman who could be a successor and ensure at least one of the beast-gods always had his torch lit. It was something Taiitsukun took a while getting used to, acting as a sort of fairy godmother when she was only expected to be a distant mentor, but it was a role she had grown to like.

As a child, Ai was just like a younger and more energetic version of her mother. Her obsession with folk tales and her drive to lead her own adventures resembled Yumiko to an almost eerie degree. Her natural fascination with what the future could hold, however, came off as an odd little quirk that was the complete opposite of her mother's pining for the past. Taiitsukun knew Ai had developed her sharp wit as a way to grapple with losing both parents so early in her life, but she wondered if parts of her own snarky temperament had rubbed off on Ai as well. _  
_

"I found your termite," Ai bluntly summarized what had happened in the grotto.

" _Oh?"_ Taiitsukun purred like an old cat on the verge of having a hairball. " _And how did he take those warding bolts?"  
_

"He hated them. He told me he was going to get even and disappeared."

" _Ah, he was always a dodgy one,"_ Taiitsukun cackled. _"He knows we have him cornered."_

"And his chi is weakened," Ai said in agreement. "What happens now?"

" _Now you follow in your precursor's footsteps and start gathering your seven Byakko Celestial Guardians. I smell calamity brewing, but I have no idea when or where it's going to strike._

"You have no idea?" Ai snorted. "I thought you were supposed this great oracle who knew everything about how the universe worked."

" _I_ _ **was**_ _, but then your mother came along and threw everything I've ever prophesized out the window,"_ Taiitsukun said with a hint of annoyance in her voice _._ _"She's been making me play everything by ear ever since. Formally speaking, you're not even supposed to exist. Luckily for us, you inherited a lot of her creative charm."_

"That sounds just like her." Ai smiled as she thought back on her mother fondly.

" _But for the love of everything holy, just promise me one thing,"_ the immortal sage begged.

"What's that?" Ai innocently asked through the stone.

" _You might actually need to summon Byakko to beat this guy. Just take it easy between the sheets until then, will ya?"_

* * *

 _Author's note: Ai's goggles are channeling her grandfather from the primary FY timeline a little bit._


	16. The Power Transfer

" _Give me a child. Enter me and give me a son."_

 **\- Wealtheow, Beowulf**

 _"... kill the Japanese ..."_

 **\- Lelouch Lamperouge, Code Geass**

" _You know, losing your memory in an accident, that's a tragedy. But getting a second chance to lead a productive life, that's an opportunity. And a worthwhile one."_

 **\- Councilman Strand, Viper**

* * *

The Priestess of Genbu met a miserable fate that sparked the bloody history of the Universe of the Four Gods. After summoning her god and having all of her wishes fulfilled, she left Hokkan and returned to her homeland. But fulfilling her quest had come with a great sacrifice. When she returned, she was blind, mangled by the shell-like growths on her back, withering away from disease, and in constant agony. With no way to save her from being consumed by Genbu, the Priestess's father ended her suffering with the swift edge of a knife through her heart. Then, overwhelmed with guilt and remorse, the father turned the same knife on himself. He was a loving savior who granted his daughter a merciful end, but history would remember him as a deranged murderer.

The Priestess of Byakko avoided being consumed by her god only to have her heart torn to pieces in another way. Her final wish was to stay in the Universe of the Four Gods so she would never had to leave her beloved, but Byakko sadly deemed it to be the one wish that would be impossible to grant. The Priestess and the devoted Celestial Guardian she loved were forced centuries apart when she had to return to her world. It was a heartache neither could fully recover from for the rest of their lives.

Ai was seeing the events from a history she was never part of. The visions filled her mind's eye with crystal clarity. She saw their faces and heard their names as if she were right beside them through their journeys. She could see them as if they were alive, but she was nothing but an invisible phantom to them.

The Priestess of Seiryuu was schemed and seduced into fulfilling her role out of bitter revenge, played as a fool by one of her own Celestial Guardians. She betrayed her best friend and led a war between Konan and Kutou that killed thousands, all under the misguided belief that she was the heroine doing what was right. It was only at the end of her story that she realized everything she had done wrong and vowed to redeem herself.

The Priestess of Suzaku suffered the pain of seeing her friend become the Priestess of Seiryuu. But she was the one out of the destined four who endured through it all. Just as Ai's mother had been shown decades ago, this mysterious Priestess of Suzaku was the only one who kept her life and found a way to bring her beloved to her own universe after fulfilling her quest. For a time, everything seemed bright and perfect in her world.

But there was more to this fairy tale than what Ai's mother had been shown. The war with Kutou had been halted, but there was still one last wolf beckoning at fate's door.

The serene air floating around Ai suddenly turned scorching red. The City of the Gods rose around her covered in flames. Ai saw the Priestess of Suzaku cowering in the rubble of a building with the Priestess of Seiryuu in her arms. The Priestess of Suzaku had her brown hair bundled into two round buns, while the Priestess of Seiryuu had short golden hair that gave her a somewhat boyish appearance. They were strangers from another world, yet the two of them seemed so familiar to Ai.

"I'm so sorry," the Priestess of Suzaku sobbed desperately. "I'm sorry, Yui. I wasn't strong enough."

The Priestess of Seiryuu had made the ultimate sacrifice trying to save their world. Her life was gone, leaving her body as only a withered husk covered in blue scales.

Tenkou was standing several yards away behind a wall of fire. He was fully revived in immortal form with the demons Ren, Hiko, Yousuri, and Miiru lurking at his sides. His long black hair swept out under his eboshi as the scorching wind bellowed around him. The hideous grin twisting across his face said he had been waiting for this moment for ages.

The Priestess of Suzaku was accompanied with nothing but death. The Priestess of Seiryuu was lifeless in her arms. The charred motionlessly figures of three Suzaku Celestial Guardians were sprawled in the rubble around her.

"This isn't right," she continued to sob. "This isn't the ending I wanted. All I've done is get everyone killed. Tatsuki, Chichiri, Taka…"

She pulled the Priestess of Seiryuu's limp form closer to her own, squeezing her eyes in despair and clenching her teeth in grief.

"And you, Yui. I'm so sorry. It's my fault for pulling you into all of this. I was an idiot for even trying."

Tenkou took a menacing step toward her. She was the only thing still standing in his way of conquering two universes, and soon she would be no more.

"Takiko. Suzuno. You. Me," the Priestess said over her friend's withered body. "What's the point of everything we went through if we're all just going to end up like this?"

"It's just as I warned you, Priestess," Tenkou spoke with a sinister sneer over the roaring fires. "Your god may be merciful, but I'm not."

She wasn't completely out of weapons. The Priestess had used her first wish to unseal the powers of her remaining few Guardians. She had used her second wish to repair the damage done during Kutou's invasion of her world, only to have it destroyed again upon Tenkou's arrival.

She had one more chance to call on Suzaku's power.

"I…" the red Priestess said in a meek whisper.

Tenkou curled his fingers as if they were claws. He conjured a pale blue sphere that crackled with electricity as it grew over his palm, while his eyes focused mercilessly on the sobbing Priestess. Ai felt helpless watching. She wanted to call out and warn her, or jump in the way, or do anything to distract Tenkou. But all she could do was watch the events play out.

"I… I…" the Priestess of Suzaku struggled to get over the lump in her throat.

Tenkou swept his arm forward and sent the spirit missile hurtling toward the Priestess. It flew through the air with the sound of lightning gliding over ice.

In the sorrowful final moments of her life, the Priestess of Suzaku threw her head toward the sky and screamed her dying wish. She thought of herself as a failure, but what she said in that last desperate instant had the power to save both of the universes.

" _ **I wish that damned book could just solve its own drama!"**_

The magic sphere struck her and engulfed her in a blinding blue nova as she still screamed. She was erased from existence with her fallen allies.

The fabric of space and time rippled with the Priestess of Suzaku's final cries. The scorching wind swirling around Ai suddenly changed direction. The electrified blue sphere flickered back into existence and rematerialized into the Priestess of Suzaku. The Priestess of Seiryuu opened her eyes as her diseased scales disappeared and her health was restored. The scene of fire and misery was swept away in an instant behind a curtain of empty black space.

Ai saw the shadow of the sun spinning backwards across the face of a sundial. She saw a giant golden coin flickering in green as it flipped from heads to tails. She saw an image of the Priestess of Byakko giving a passing glance to a bookshelf before innocently walking away, never knowing a lifetime of heartbreak. She saw the knife covered in the Priestess of Genbu's blood instantly become dry and spotless. She saw the blur of two pulsing torches attached to the head of a giant metal worm screaming away from her in reverse. She saw her mother as a young girl wearing a strange short green dress falling past her in the empty void, plummeting through a snowy tornado with her arm reaching up and a look of terror on her face.

Then everything was silent. Ai heard Genbu's voice speak low words that echoed through the void.

" _Death can only be defeated with new life."_

Ai woke up with a start. She was back in Sairou with a canvas tarp stretched ten feet above her head.

She sighed as she sat in her bed and tried to sort the memories of other people's lives from her own. She'd been having another restless vision. They were getting more distinct every day and cutting into her sleeping patterns.

She propped herself on her feet and felt her way around the inside of the dark tent. She saw something pale and flowing out of the corner of her eye, and her first instinct said it was the ghostly veil of the nameless white stranger who had been haunting her since she first unsealed Tenkou. She cautiously turned her head and felt relieved to know it was just the loose flap that led outside of the tent.

The Priestess of Byakko drew a white striped shawl around her shoulders and walked out into the cool desert air. It was the dead of night, and wind quietly whistled across the dark golden dunes surrounding her. The campsite was like a tiny island surrounded by rising and falling waves of sand. Out of the Byakko Celestial Guardians she'd recruited so far, the Hokkan royal guards her brother Zalbiral insisted she keep around, and a small battalion of Sairou troops, she was one of the only few still awake at this hour. Her waking dreams made her the most vigilant.

Her eyes burned as if she had been crying for hundreds of years, yet her visions only lasted for a couple of minutes and her tear ducts hadn't leaked a single drop. She sighed again as she shook the lingering sorrowful feelings from her mind. Whether the things she saw and the emotions she felt were real or imaginary, those phantoms from another time gave her more courage to finish her quest and summon Byakko. Tomorrow she'd start her search anew for her next Celestial Guardian.


	17. Two for One

" _Lack of follow-through is a serious flaw for a civic leader. Some might say a fatal flaw."_

 **\- Viper**

" _Baby dan dan."_

 **\- SSSS Gridman**

* * *

High in the clouds hanging over the border of Sairou and Hokkan, another conflict was unfolding. Two massive celestial beasts sparred in the bright blue Heavens completely unbeknownst to the mortals below. The white tiger was young, powerful, and energetic. He jumped from cloud to cloud with the speed of lightning and the weightlessness of a feather. His roars made thunder crash through the sky. He was brash, bold, and impatient for a fight. He couldn't stop moving as he frantically looked for a chance to spring his attack. He circled his opponent while crouching so low his white fur became part of the cloud he was floating on.

The green turtle was old and grumpy. The snake coiling on his shell looked like it was more eager for a nap than a fight. He simply waited for his foolish opponent to wear himself out with his childish displays of speed and might.

The white tiger finally lunged. But just when the two beasts were about to meet, a split second before they would have torn each other's flesh apart, they both froze to an abrupt stop. The giant tiger backed a few meters away, growling under his breath in disappointment.

The two deities assumed their human form. Genbu was tall and broad like a war general in ceramic shell armor. Byakko appeared as an adolescent boy, maybe only half as tall as his brother, but more regally dressed. He wore silver armor over a white tunic, with a crown on his head that formed the shape of a five-clawed golden paw. The younger bowed to the elder, but the winds of respect were on the cusp of changing direction.

"Byakko," the taller black and green god addressed his sibling in a tone that was stoic, but haunted by a hint of desperation. "It is almost time for your Priestess to summon you. My Shadow has been watching over her closely. She has gathered her final Guardian and I only have one last trial awaiting her. Soon everything I have tried to prepare these mortals for will be out of my control. All of my responsibilities will become yours."

Byakko nodded once as he faced the more ancient god, putting his impulsiveness aside to show he took the words seriously.

"You've made the right decision gambling on me to finish the mission. I'll slash the Intruder to pieces for you, brother."

Genbu sighed while he slowly shook his head.

"This is not by choice, and it's not I you shall be serving. You will be on your own from this point forward. Your youthfulness and your fondness for the human world make you our best chance for a future. For the sake of everything below you and beyond you, never rescind on the things that make you the most different of the four of us."

The turtle god peered down through the clouds and let his attention rest on the land thousands of miles below his feet. Something in his voice sounded sad as he spoke.

"You must care for her when you meet her. She's small, delicate, and less cautious than her mother. I owe it to my own Priestess to ensure she stays safe."

Then he peered toward his younger sibling again. His expression gained a tiny and unusual sense of hope, becoming almost… human.

"But she's also like you. Young. Brash. Full of spirit. Courageous. Unpredictable. She's the greatest defense we are ever going to have, and you're the only thing that can help her reach her potential. Everything I've planned and everything I've calculated now falls entirely on the two of you."

His voice changed to a tone that subtly combined appreciation with remorse.

"I thought it would take my Priestess eight generations to strengthen the bloodline and leave a descendant who could save us. She did it in one on her own volition at the cost of her survival. I revere her as a being superior to even me. I hope you learn to see your Priestess in the same light."

"I've yet to meet her, but I already yearn to fulfill her every wish. I'm only a lonely stray without a human to call on me," Byakko replied. His loyalty and resolve made Genbu bow his head with deep gratitude.

"This is as far as I can go on my power alone," said the elder god. "When we meet again, Byakko, may it be after you've completed the journey."

The two deities changed back into their bestial forms, then disappeared into spheres of green and white light.

* * *

 _Author's note: This chapter is foreshadowing the final battle a few chapters from now where this quirky modern retelling of FY with different characters will finally catch up to the original FY storyline and become a full-blown nostalgia wankfest._

 _Author's note 2: I really like Byakko's last line where he's basically quoting the original FY ending theme just with the genders reversed. And it totally works because he's an actual cat dude. That one just kinda popped up in my brain out of nowhere as I was writing._


	18. Where There's Smoke There's Fire

" _I've been looking for an original sin, one with a twist and a bit of a spin. And since I've done all the old ones until they've all been done in, now I'm just looking, then I'm gone with the wind."_

 **\- Taylor Dane, The Shadow**

" _I'm gonna have a good time tonight. Rock and roll music gonna play all night. Come on, baby, it won't take long. Only take a minute just to sing my song."_

 **\- INXS and Jimmy Barnes, The Lost Boys**

" _So where haven't you been?"_

" _Iceland? But I leave the day after tomorrow."_

 **\- James McCaffrey and Heather Medway, Viper**

" _They'll have to catch us first."_

 **\- Jurota Kusogi, Viper**

" _Was that… an Ayashi no Ceres reference?"_

 **\- me in an Astral Chain thread on GameFAQs**

* * *

White candle flames burned softly around the altar of Byakko. The Priestess was dressed in ceremonial regalia and held a rolled up scroll between her hands. All seven of her sacred followers were stationed behind her and kneeling toward the trail of her pristine white robes. She stood with her eyes closed and her head bowed. The two pointed ornaments sitting above her ears on her headdress added an extra inch to her otherwise small and youthful silhouette.

A temple servant beat a bronze gong one time, filling the quiet shrine's acoustics with a thunderous hum. The servant beat the gong two times. On the third beat, the sound of a hammer striking an anvil suddenly ringed in Ai's ears. The dark walls of the shrine melted away as she remembered a sunny day when she was just beginning her quest.

Her brother Donatello was focused intensely on the new weapon he was crafting while she and her two sisters watched from a nearby table. He kept his hair out of the furnace's sweltering head with a red bandana that stretched down far enough to almost cover his eyes. When he needed to switch tools, he would drop the hot mallet or metal cast he was holding into a bucket of water and pull another tool out of the round equipment rack he wore on his back. It was one of his more convenient inventions.

At 24 years old, he was the most famous blacksmith in all of Hokkan, and probably the entire world. Whereas his contemporaries had only recently mastered the art of steelwork, he brought to the kiln an inherent knowledge of physics and metallurgy that had never been imagined before. He made daggers with swiveling blades that could switch sizes. Spring-loaded axes that doubled the wielder's swinging power and chopped lumber in half the time. Shields that could instantly turn into giant chakrams by pressing a small switch on its handle.

He was a true Renaissance man in an era that had never heard of the Renaissance. Every time someone new rode into Hokkan asking for a blacksmith, the word in town was always "You should go see that Donatello guy. He does machines." His skill was legendary and his creations were otherworldly. The very anvil he used to work his craft became an object of myth in only a few years after he opened his shop. It was rumored that he had won it from an old Northern god named Crom in an arm wrestling conquest.

Ai's older brothers Zalbiral, Delkhii, and Teg were tending the affairs of the state in the castle looming in the horizon from the blacksmith's hut. Zalbiral was King, while Delkhii and Teg offered their aid as two of his court ministers. The eldest brother spent most of his days reclined in his throne with his long black hair hanging down his shoulders in waves. His locks were as beautiful as a celestial maiden's and he, like his father, rarely wore the traditional top knot. He often kept a xiangqi board beside his seat.

Zal possessed an intellect that didn't quite belong in his own time. Almost everything he said carried some ambiguous meaning that always sounded confusing at best, or slightly threatening at worst. Even some of his own ministers and his wife found him odd at times, while his six siblings were the only ones who ever truly understood him. It was as if the entire world and all its inner workings were a book laid out in front of him, and he was constantly reading between the lines. Sometimes Delkhii and Teg practically had to act as translators for all the parables and metaphors that rolled off his tongue, which tended to get more than a little annoying. When he wasn't busy advising the seasonal crop rotation or developing ways to reduce the tax burden for his subjects, he would start murmuring philosophy about how things didn't exist if their names weren't real.

Scratching just under the surface of the odd ways he expressed his thoughts, it was clear he loved his people and their country. Everything he did was a benevolent effort to help Hokkan flourish and keep its ties to the three neighboring kingdoms peaceful and strong. From the moment he inherited the throne from his parents, he continued their legacy of constantly preparing for _something._ Nobody just ever knew what.

Donatello was the only one of the brothers who worked outside of the palace grounds. He'd always been offered a position in the royal armory, but he preferred to get away from all the stuffy court formalities and live closer to the open farmlands.

Ai watched her brother work the furnace bellows with anxious and almost greedy eyes as she waited to see the finished product. Madoka and Tiantang sat beside her sharing lunch. Madoka still lived in the palace along with Ai. Tiantang had married a blue-eyed general of the Kutou army, but she often came back to Hokkan to visit her other siblings.

Tiantang had little more than a modest serving of beef and noodles on her plate, with a croissant on the side as dessert. Madoka was huddled behind what looked like three baskets of bakery treats, five satchels of fruit, and an entire carved ham. She was an odd sort in her own way. She could destroy a feast big enough for an entire stable of horses in the span of five minutes and she never weighed more than 120 pounds. She'd been born nine months after King Limdo and Yumiko took one of their retreats to their pleasure castle in Konan, and she came with an always bright deposition as if she saw life itself as one big vacation.

In spite of their colorful contrasting personalities, the seven siblings were all patient and mild-tempered. As offspring to a Priestess, they had each spent their infant years in tranquil arms surrounded by slowly chanting voices and gently burning incense, leaving them with a relaxed disposition that followed them into adulthood. The tragic nature of Ai's birth left her with the roughest upbringing compared to the rest of her siblings, but it also made her the closest to her mother's spirit.

The beating of hammer and anvil finally stopped. Donatello doused a pail of icy water on the item sitting on the anvil to cool it off, causing it to hiss as was covered in a dense cloud of steam. He waited a few minutes, swatted away the last of the steam with his hand, and presented his youngest sister with her sparkling new weapon.

"There you go, sis," he smiled. "The best crossbow a demon-busting princess could ask for."

"It's Priestess now," Ai said with a small grunt.

"My apologies, Priestess," Donatello playfully bowed his head. "I keep forgetting you changed titles. You're growing up so quickly."

"That's because we feed her so well," Madoka said while she was diving into a basket of cinnamon rolls.

Ai graciously took the bow in her arms and inspected its craftsmanship. She turned it sideways, upside-down, and diagonally, instinctively being careful never to point it at herself. She was amazed by how much versatility her brother managed to pack into such a small and elegant weapon.

"I'm glad you like it," Donatello said when he saw the joy on her face. "I call it the Khamgaalagch."

"Kamagulag?" Madoka mumbled through a mouth full of grapes.

"Khamgaalagch. I think that's a word from one of the early Hokkan tribes. It means 'Defender,'" Tiantang helped explain. She was an Old World scholar in her own right.

"It can be loaded with any enchantment you want," Donatello said while Ai was still checking the weapon. "Of course, you'll have to come up with that on your own to make it work."

"The old lady is helping me with that," Ai replied. "She's got some magic bolts she wants me to try out, but she's teaching me the basics so I can make my own. She says learning to craft them should be my final initiation as a Priestess. I'll be a pro at it by the time I'm ready to deal with that creep."

She pointed the metal and wooden invention toward an empty side of the hut, squinting with one eye as she tested its aiming range.

"Now all I have to figure out how to get out of the castle without half of the royal guard coming after me. Taiitsukun keeps saying this has to be my fight. I don't want Zal worrying about me."

"That part's easy," Donatello said with a wink. "You should have seen what this place was like before you were born. Back when mom came to Hokkan, it was a time when criminals ruled the city."

Over the next several months, Ai set out on her trek through the Western desert and found the demon's underground grotto. She gathered each of her seven Celestial Warriors in preparation for the final battle. She chased her ghoulish enemy and his amassing forces through three corners of the world before returning back to where it all began: Sairou.

There were two towers in country that Tenkou could possibly use to perform the spell that would allow him to escape the Universe of the Four Gods. One was pointed East, one was pointed West, and they stood less than a quarter-mile apart. All the clues pointed toward the western tower being the chosen site of his ceremony. When Ai and her Celestial Warriors arrived at the base of the structure at nightfall, they found a cadre of demons blocking their path.

The first in their way were Tenkou's disciples named Ren and Yousui. The Celestial Warriors threw all their might at the two demons, holding them off just long enough to forge a path for their Priestess.

"Go, Ai! We'll stay behind while you finish the mission!" Tatara called over the chaos of battle.

Ai charged ahead with only her crossbow and her faith in Byakko protecting her. She flew up a flight of stairs and came to the second floor, where she was greeted by Tenkou's alluring demoness companion: Miiru.

The purple-haired beauty prepared for the occasion by dressing bare naked and wearing only a tiny sadistic smirk on her lips. The floor moved under Ai's feet for a second before she realized she was standing in a nest of snakes. Swarms of the reptiles slithered over and through the natural curves of Miiru's body as she giggled menacingly.

"What's wrong, little girl? Didn't your mother ever tell you to stay away from scary old ladies?"

"Actually, she taught me exactly what to do with people like you," Ai replied with a snort.

Miiru blinked, and suddenly Ai had vanished. Startled, she looked around the slithering chamber in confusion. Her serpentine familiars flicked their forked tongues in the air trying to follow the Priestess's tracks.

The demoness felt a faint breeze prickling the back of her neck. She just started to turn around when half of Ai's fist sailed through the air and slammed square into her jaw. Miiru instantly dropped to the floor in a daze while Ai stood over her shaking out her sleeve.

The Priestess of Byakko dashed over the bed of snakes and flew up another set of stairs. She reached the third floor and wound up in a room used for storing large barrels of water. There was only one opponent waiting for her here: Heise.

In Ai's prophetic nightmares, the water demon that joined Tenkou's coven always appeared as a blue-haired beast named Hiko. But those visions represented another time and another place, a mere possibility rather than a full premonition. Instead, Ai had to face this black-haired monstrosity who used the same powers and could be just as deadly.

The Priestess didn't hesitate to loose her first bolt at her target. It flew out of the trigger in a horizontal flash, but Heise dodged any real harm by simply waving his arm. The bolt stabbed into his palm and stopped when it was poking three inches out of the back of his hand.

Heise lifted his hand to his eyes and looked at the grisly wound like it was nothing. He made a _tsk_ sound with his tongue against his fangs.

"You missed, Priestess," he smirked as he effortlessly pulled the bolt out of its bony crater.

"That was just my practice round," Ai smirked back.

Her next shot was loaded with holy thunder. While the demon was still gloating, the bolt struck him through the heart and sent him violently flying backwards into the nearest stack of water barrels. The conductive properties of the water increased the bolt's power a thousandfold, frying Heise's undead body and drying out all of his own moisture.

Ai ran past the spectacular explosion of sparks and crackling lightning and started her climb up the final staircase. She could still hear Heise's electrically-distorted stereo wails echoing through the walls until his voice finally died out a minute later.

The final flight of stairs was eerily quiet aside from Ai's exhausted gasping breaths, but she never slowed down. She got the sudden feeling she was being followed, but the thing she sensed following her was even more frightening than any of Tenkou's minions. The thing following her was the Wraith.

Ai knew nothing about the vision of the nameless woman in white who always kept her face hidden under the hood of a wedding robe. Everyone involved in Ai's quest knew of her and had seen brief glimpses of her, but nobody could explain her. She would appear as a transparent white blur on the edge of Ai's peripheral vision while she was aiming. She'd be seen standing at the side of Ai's bed for just a short instant when Ai was waking up from a bad dream. She'd be looming somewhere in the background every time Ai met one of Byakko's Celestial Guardians. She was known as the Shade Priestess, the False Priestess, the Doomseer, the Wraith, the Specter, the White Stranger, the Weeping Bride, and countless other words and phrases with similar ominous connotations. The Wraith was always there seemingly to taunt Ai, or make Ai remember the enemies fought didn't belong to the realm of the living, or weaken Ai's resolve by reminding her of her own mortality. Ai didn't dare to look over her shoulder when she felt that presence looming behind her.

She never considered the Wraith could have been following her to silently encourage her and pray for her safety.

Ai didn't have time to think about anything other than reaching the top of the tower. She had to stop Tenkou in his tracks before he made her mother's world burn, before he turned the sorrowful and terrifying fantasies that haunted her dreams into a reality. She reached the final stair, smashed open the final door, and ran out onto the roof expecting to finally slay the leader of the demons.

She picked the wrong tower.

The roof was completely empty aside some dust and old twigs. Turning her head eastward, she gasped in horror as she saw the pale silver outline of Tenkou hundreds of yards away on the adjacent rooftop. He was standing in a spell circle drawn in blood from his own wrist. He was just out of the range Ai could effectively aim, and seconds away from departing her universe.

"It's been an interesting hunt, Priestess!" the demon called over toward Ai's roof with a wild grin. "But there's one thing you haven't done before you can finish your quest and be rid of those phantoms filling your mind!"

Ai nearly threw herself over the side of her tower as she ran to the eastern edge screaming.

"What is it?! What do you want from me, you bastard?!"

Tenkou chuckled back through the corner of his mouth.

"You'll have to catch me first."

He completed his wretched spell, opening a portal just long enough for a single entity to pass through. He disappeared into a white cloud shaped like the head of a wolf.

The spectral cloud drifted upward in the cold night air, started to fade, and turned back into the faint wisps of smoke burning off of the white temple candles. Ai came out of her emotional reverie as the gong beat a final time.

There was only one option left to chase the demon where he had fled, and it was the hour of commencement.

The Priestess of Byakko opened the scroll in her hands and calmly began the incantation. Even though every word she needed to say was written out for her on the paper, they all came so naturally that she felt like she could have recited the prayer without ever reading it.

"The four palaces of the Heavens. The four corners of the Earth. In the name of sacred law, faith, and virtue…"

* * *

 _Author's note: Cowabunga dudes._

 _Author's note 2: Did you ever see the movie The Wraith? It's so ridiculously 80s. It's like they said "Hey, let's remake High Plains Drifter, except now it has an illegal sports car racing gang and the soundtrack is filled with Stan Bush and Billy Idol music." It's sort of like if an aspiring fanfic writer ever came along and said "Hey, let's remake Fushigi Yuugi, but now it's Viper."_


	19. Return of the Green Ranger

" _You are close now. So very close to me."_

 **\- The Seneschal, Dragon's Dogma**

 _"Sure learned his lesson."_

 **\- Star Trek (2009)**

 _"My turn."_

 **\- The Green Ranger, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode 17**

" _Vanish."_

 **\- Shiho Munakata, My HiME episode 17**

" _Don't be late for the party!"_

 **\- Jason Carter, Viper**

" _*dies and gets stuck in a cryogenic tube so his life force can give life to another character*"_

 **\- Jason Carter, Babylon 5**

* * *

"Kaijin! Make me part of my mother's world!"

Byakko lowered his head in silence. His youthful features—normally far fairer than any of the three other beast-gods—faded under the shade of his five-clawed crown.

"I am sorry, Priestess," the god spoke in a calm, resonating voice. "That is one wish I cannot grant… yet."

The white ceremonial flames surrounding Ai suddenly burnt out and turned to wisps of smoke. The trail of her white and gold summoning robes fluttered as a great chill swept through the temple. The ornate columns disappeared, along with the altar. The Priestess found herself surrounded in darkness with only Byakko and the silhouettes of her seven Celestial Warriors joining her.

The temple had been completely replaced with a void of fathomless non-existence. If the scene her mother had so vividly described where she once met Genbu had taken place in the Heavens, this must have been the Underworld.

Ai's heart sank. Tenkou had escaped her universe and she had no way of knowing what horrors he was about to unleash in the next one. She felt helpless without Byakko's aid.

"I don't understand," she said to her guardian deity with desperation growing in her eyes. "I gathered all the Warriors. I recited the summoning scroll. What do I still need to do?"

Byakko slowly stretched his arm and pointed into the ominous distance.

"There is Another who must test your worthiness."

Ai turned her head in the direction Byakko motioned. She froze when she saw what was waiting for her fifty feet away.

It was the faceless phantom who had been haunting Ai since she began her journey, a presence almost as unsettling as Tenkou himself. The figure kept herself hidden under the hood of a ghostly white bridal robe that always rippled in a cold wind. Her flowing outline shimmered dimly against the darkness.

Ai had first seen her as she was leaving Tenkou's tomb, appearing as a vague white mirage blowing in the distant sands. The phantom had reappeared every time Ai found another Celestial Warrior of Byakko, always spying on her from a faraway roof or standing just out of the light in a patch of trees. She never resorted to violence, she never became openly hostile, but she was an ever-looming source of dread. The people of Sairou had noticed her presence as well, calling her foreboding names like the Pale Wanderer and the False Priestess. No one knew her identity, or how she always seemed to be one step ahead of Ai. There were some who had begun to even question if this cryptic being was meant to be the real Priestess sent by Byakko and Ai was the fake.

Ai counted herself as one of those doubters.

For the first time, the ghostly bride spoke. Her voice flowed out of her long hood distorted and corrupt, casting an echo like she was chanting through the endless halls of a catacomb.

" _One who dares call herself Priestess of Byakko. You've had the family you love torn away from you when you were only a child. You've had responsibilities you never could have imagined thrust on you by forces beyond your comprehension. You've chased a demon across the four ends across this plane of existence when deep in your heart you were terrified. And yet you refuse to_ _ **disappear**_ _."_

The phantom lingered on a pregnant pause. Her head rose slightly while her hood remained draped over her face.

" _Tell me, Priestess, how determined are you? Are you really willing to throw away everything you know to save a world that isn't even your own?"_

"I'll chase Tenkou wherever I have to!" Ai pushed herself to respond. "I'm the one who started this! I can't just give up when I know the other world is in trouble!"

The phantom bride nodded her head under her long white hood.

" _Then perhaps you_ _ **are**_ _just like…"_

The ghost lifted her draping white sleeves to the edges of her wedding cowl. She slowly brushed the fabric back, revealing herself to the dim light.

It was Yumiko. With features pale and transparent, she looked the age she had been during her own quest decades ago.

"… _your mother,"_ the spirit of the Priestess of Genbu finished her sentence with a tender smile. Her voice instantly sounded softer, more familiar. Ai could only look at her in shock.

Yumiko slowly opened her arms like a peacock spreading his feathers and tossed away her colorless spectral wedding robe. Underneath she was wearing a ritual vestment more extravagant than anything she had ever worn in life. Her draping skirts and sleeves consisted of layered platinum and emerald curtains embroidered with gold. Transparent silk garland rested weightlessly over a protective breastplate made of turtle shells lined with striped white tiger fur. The loops in her black hair were tied in place with light green laces, while jewelry shaped like tiny gold fangs decorated her ears. Her ceremonial bow and arrow quiver were fastened behind her back.

Yumiko's loving and tender smile never faded. The appearance she was assuming was a creation of her own will. She knew exactly what had to happen next, and she wouldn't have had it any other way.

" _You've grown so much in the three years since I left you,"_ she said to Ai. _"You never thought I'd get a chance to tell you how proud I am, did you?"_

Ai tried to answer, but only sputtered in confusion. The spirit of Yumiko lowered her head and held her palm over her still heart. Her nails were ornately painted white with green stripes.

" _Now let's see whose aim is sharper. Your Constellations will collide with mine so the universe can decide which guardian beast is the fiercest."_

The pale forms of Yumiko's loyal Celestial Warriors answered her rally, all appearing in their prime just like her. Uruki materialized out of thin air closely by her side. Namame materialized as a giant translucent frost golem behind them. Anlu's necklace was embedded deep inside his clear stone head like a gold and green nucleus between his eyes. Urumiya and Inami were standing on the jagged crystals that formed his shoulders.

No other star signs appeared.

" _Looks like we have a few who couldn't make it to the party,"_ Yumiko said with a hint of relief rather than disappointment. A mere 36 years had passed since she first reigned as Priestess, and the dead weren't always envious toward the living.

She turned to her four phantom Guardians and spoke jokingly.

" _You guys will just have to work twice as hard for these kittens."_

Uruki, Inami, and Urumiya took the challenge with friendly grins on their faces. Namame made a soft rumbling noise that could have been mistaken for a human chuckle.

Yumiko calmly pulled her bow off her back. The slender yew frame creaked like an old musty door that hadn't been opened for decades as she strung her first arrow. Its tip glowed with a single pale blue flame.

She closed one eye and aimed her shot harmlessly toward her daughter.

" _C'mon, Ai,"_ she said with a warm and reassuring voice. _"This was always your favorite part in all the bedtime stories I used to tell you. It's when the student proves herself by beating the old master."_

" _Show us your courage, Ai,"_ Uruki said with a grin as he rested his palm on his wife's tensed shoulder. _"How do you expect to beat something as powerful as Tenkou if you can't handle a few old ghouls like us?"_

Ai finally gathered her resolve as her surprise wore off. She had one last trial to complete. The tearful reunions would have to be saved for later.

"You're smaller than I remember you, mom," she answered boldly as she reached behind her back. She slid her crossbow out from its hiding place underneath the large silk sash tied behind her waist, unlocking it from its compact form so its wings opened on springs.

"I hope you don't trip over all those fancy skirt tassels!" she said as she latched a bolt into place and lined her shot.

" _That's more like it,"_ Yumiko snickered cheerfully. _"Now come, Priestess. Forge a legacy for yourself."_

Yumiko let go of her drawstring and fired the most focused and precise shot she had ever aimed. It was the easiest shot Ai had ever dodged.

The seven living Byakko Warriors and the four dead Genbu Warriors crashed together like walls made of white quartz and emerald. The stars waged war with each other in the margins of the universe while the two Priestesses traded shots on center stage.

Yumiko held her position as she cautiously threaded one arrow after the other. Ai charged at her mother firing off bolts in rapid succession. Yumiko sidestepped to her left to avoid one bolt. She sidestepped to her right to avoid another. She struck a third one straight out of the air with the gilded edge of her bow.

Ai met Yumiko at close range. The iron components of her weapon rattled against the wooden frame of her mother's as the two Priestesses locked in combat.

Uruki separated from the rest of his allies and run toward Ai's back. He raised his illusory sword over his head as the air started to swirl around his sprinting feet.

" _Heh. Trying to take me head-on when Uruki will protect me,"_ Yumiko said as she kept her bow steady and held Ai at bay. Her eyes were locked together with her opponent's. _"I thought you knew better than that, Ai."_

"I know something you don't," Ai said vaguely.

" _And what's that?"_ Yumiko's spirit asked with a smug grin.

"Aerodynamics," her daughter bluntly replied.

Ai jumped straight up using her inherited wind magic to aid her flight. As she adjusted her aim in midair, her thumb flicked across a switch tucked behind the crossbow's primary trigger. Two wooden panels slid open along its sides and fired a pair of metal anchors out of tiny gunpowder reservoirs. Designed to fly like birds on wires and anointed with holy spells, they were effective against a wide assortment of different enemies.

Uruki dropped his sword and stumbled through his own wind storm as Ai jumped out of his way. The swirling air he controlled crossed currents with Ai's and instantly turned unstable, sending his ghost sprawling into Yumiko's. Ai's wires spiraled like propellers through the combined storm system and looped around Yumiko's and Uruki's vaporous forms, cracking Yumiko's bow to pieces and flipping them both over like a pair of turtle doves on their backs. It was a clever split-second tactic that required immense knowledge of bolt physics, wind velocity, and the stress limits of iron, all tied together with some honed magical craft.

Ai landed on her feet several yards away from her parents. She discarded the hanging anchor wires from her weapon before folding its limbs shut and storing it back into her robe.

" _I always hated math,"_ Yumiko groaned as she sat up. Uruki and she climbed to their feet together, shaking their heads in a daze.

Urumiya, Inami, and Namame peacefully surrendered once their Priestess was bested. The Guardians of the previous era bowed in admiration to their present-day Byakko counterparts before disappearing back into the void.

Uruki's spirit prepared to leave with the rest of his celestial allies. He stopped for a brief moment to proudly tell his daughter farewell.

" _Take care of yourself, Ai. Neither of us would be able to rest easy if anything happened to you."_

He quietly disappeared like the others, leaving only the spirit Priestess.

Yumiko slowly approached Ai with a benevolent smile. As she walked, she grew a couple inches taller. Her eyes lost some of their innocent glow while her face started to wrinkle. Her exquisite dress faded and turned into a well-worn black and green Genbu robe. In a matter of seconds she went from a rebellious teenage girl to a softened but wizened middle-aged woman. The way she was supposed to look. The way Ai remembered her.

" _I've missed you, Ai,"_ the ghost said as she looked down on her living daughter.

Ai held the silent and determined look on her face for a commendable five seconds. Then everything melted. She jumped forward and threw her arms around her mother as she wept softly. The Priestess of Byakko may have been a fearsome heroine who thwarted demons, tamed wild jungle gods, and beat death itself in friendly sparring matches, but she was still a 13-year-old girl who had lost her parents. She didn't care that she was hugging a pulseless apparition made of icy mist. She didn't care that the mere touch of spirit vapor sent a numb tingling through her arms. All she felt was familiar warmth.

"Mom…" the younger Priestess stopped to regain her composure and tried to make sense of her thoughts. "You knew all of this was going to happen before you died? You were trying to prepare me the whole time?"

Yumiko slowly shook her head as her smile grew more kind.

" _I had no idea about Tenkou. Taiitsukun never told me about him when I was alive. I always thought I was the first person to come here. Almost everyone who lives here thought the same thing."_

She closed her eyes and lowered her head. Her emotions traveled to the short ten years she had spent on the earth with her daughter.

" _After I became pregnant with you, I had this feeling something worse than I've ever fought was coming, and I'd never be strong enough to stop it. Call it Priestess's vibe. All I could do was hope I was wrong for once so you'd never have to go through everything I did when I was barely older than you. Taiitsukun kept telling me there was nothing I had to worry about. She was technically telling the truth, but I think deep down we both started to realize how important you were going to be. By the time you were a few years old and enamored with who I was and where I came from, I knew the simple life of a princess would never make you happy. There had to be bigger things in store you, I just didn't know what. I wanted all of you kids to be safe, but the book had one more bad guy to throw at us."_

She sighed as she glanced slightly upward.

" _I used to think Genbu only wanted me to pump out an heir for Uruki. In his weird way, he was really looking out for the both of us."_

Shaking her head and chuckling under her breath, she looked back down at Ai.

" _Taiitsukun must have known sending you straight after Tenkou would be our best bet. Things would only get worse if she waited until he regained more of his power. I love Madoka and Tiantang as much as you, but they inherited too much of my sappy side to be good successors on their own. I guess I was holding off my best for last, even if it sped up the ending for me._ _I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you. You had to put up with a mom who was only a shell of her old self after you were born. I knew I was withering away day after day, but that never mattered to me. What mattered was for you to grow up healthy with a full life ahead of you. Losing me and your father when you were still so young was hard on you, but now it's made you the strongest of my girls."_

"Mom…" Ai whispered in doubt. "What would have happened if you won?"

Yumiko's spirit gently brushed the back of Ai's hair and kissed the top of her head.

" _There was never a chance,"_ the ghost replied with a playful smirk. _"But even if you hadn't pulled that trick on me and Uruki, I'd still be standing here seeing you off. I'd just be giving you advice on how to do better. This is my place, and you're everything we have to throw at Tenkou."_

"Then why did you go through all of this? Why didn't you tell me it was you in the first place?" Ai said with confusion.

" _You know the gods and their formalities. You weren't chosen by the Heavens like I was. There were no prophecies promising the world how amazing you were going to be. You had to claw through everything yourself."_

Yumiko tilted her head coyly.

" _But isn't a mother allowed to encourage her daughter before sending her off to fight for the fate of the universe?"_ she asked in a lighthearted tone. _"What good is an adventure without some mystery and peril sprinkled on?"_

"Will I ever see you again?" Ai asked timidly.

" _I'll always be around keeping an eye on you,"_ Yumiko said with a small nod. _"As long as you choose this world as your home and come back when you're done, I'm sure we'll be together again someday."_

She smirked playfully, adding, _"Unless you fall in love while you're over there."_

Ai didn't think much of it. All of her emotions were focused on her mother.

"Aren't you mad about any of this? Aren't you jealous this is all you can do against Tenkou when you could have become… like him?"

" _Of course I'm a little jealous. I'm only stuck here for all eternity_ ," she said with a sarcastic bittersweet expression. It quickly faded and became only sweet.

" _But he forgot how to be human a long time ago to become what he is. I get be loved by all the people who knew me and pass down my story when he'll always be full of nothing but hate. I got to have a family when he'll never stop feeling lonely. I think I'd rather be remembered as the girl who got to live happily ever after than some moldy demon king."_

Yumiko shook her head as a confident smirk crossed her lips.

"' _Moldy demon king' might be giving him too much credit. He's just a loser who got his head chopped off in the Sengoku era and bound his soul to a stolen Chinese scripture so the other girl's daughter could kick his ghost's butt."_

"There's so much I want to tell you," Ai struggled to say.

" _I know the feeling."_ Yumiko sighed in ancient melancholy. Shaking an old dull pain out of her mind, she smiled again.

" _While you're over there, could you check in on my folks for me? It's the Kata residence. Just tell them the three magic words and they'll know where you came from."_

Ai almost giggled at such a modest request. She could never forget those words. She was named after one of them.

"You came back from the dead just for my sake," she said to offer her own assurance. "The least I can do is visit grandma and grandpa for a few minutes."

Yumiko nodded in gratitude, praying that if her parents had never received her message the first time, they'd be sure to notice on the second try.

" _Now go on,"_ she finally whispered to her daughter. _"I don't want to interfere with your three wishes. You have a god to command."_

She turned and bowed her head to the stoic human form of Byakko waiting in the distance, giving her approval. Then she faded back into history.

Ai was a lone white and gold figure standing in the darkness. With her thoughts collected and her peace made, she started walking toward her animal groom.

Byakko held his hands forward with his palms facing up. His face—so young, but timeless—changed from its cold and distant complexion and offered a gentle compassionate smile to his summoner. He completed the ceremony by finally speaking his half of the incantation.

"O noble and kind maiden who weaves the threads between the Earth and the Sky, life and death, this world and the next, I surrender myself to you. I now grant you your first wish."

Ai stood in front of the god and placed her palms down over his. The seven Celestial Warriors formed a circle around the Priestess and her deity with their heads lowered in meditation.

Byakko closed his eyes as his fingers tenderly interlocked with Ai's, the same way a cat kneads the hands of his owner. His human form dissolved into a white orb of pure chi, delicately phased through her robe into her heart, and coupled with her on a spiritual plane. The arcane sigil that had adorned his forehead now adorned hers.

Ai's posture remained perfectly still as if nothing had struck her. She never showed the slightest trace of growing weak or being consumed. The universe couldn't absorb a character who already belonged to its pages: It would only be erasing its own text.

Light returned to the void and Ai was standing in the temple again. But the light continued to grow more radiant, almost unbearable. For a single instant, she could see the proud and relieved faces of her Celestial Warriors silently wishing her good luck on her journey. Then she went totally blind and saw only pure white. She felt herself being catapulted as if a raging sand tornado was pulling her up into the sky.

Ai awoke with the side of her face pressed against flat carpeting. Her eyes opened to an intense blur. She was taken by surprise at how brightly lit her surroundings were even though she was inside. The ceiling seemed to have a row of rectangular suns built into it.

She was sprawled on the floor between two towering bookcases made from a grated metal construction she had never seen before. The spines of the books lining the shelves were engraved with odd combinations of numbers and letters on tiny white pieces of parchment.

Her attire was completely foreign to her. She was wearing a dark emerald coat covering a white blouse with some elegant green lace tied in a knot over her sternum. The left breast of the coat was emblazoned with a small coat-of-arms that didn't belong to any of the kingdoms she knew. Her skirt ended well above her knees and was pleated through an intricate tailoring process that looked too precise to be done by human hand. It was dyed in the same dark green as her coat with overlapping black square patterns. Her feet were covered by polished leather hides pulled over a pair of short white ankle stockings. It took her a moment to remember her mother had called this particular arrangement of clothes a "school uniform."

Anyone who had known Yumiko in this dimension would instantly have their attention drawn toward Ai. The resemblance was close enough to pass for a cousin or a younger sister. Ai's outfit was a perfect replica of what Yumiko had been wearing the day she left her world, but tailored for Ai's smaller measurements. Her hazel eyes were the same as Yumiko's. Her hair, even though it was styled differently in braided pigtails, was black and silky like Yumiko's. The similar features on her face were like a long lost treasure map marked by the tiny mole below her right lip.

Ai heard a muffled _thump_ as something landed on the carpet beside her. Her eyes turned to see a book with a faded red cover had fallen from one of the shelves and landed within her reach. She pulled it into her lap and read the title on the cover.

 _Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho._

Curiously, she opened the book and silently read the beginning of the passage on the first page.

 _"_ _The clear silk curtains high in the temple windows fluttered in the turbulent wind, blowing in the path of the light from the ceiling candles and casting a quick red sheen over the stormy clouds."_

She quietly closed the book, already knowing the story by heart. It was time to write something new.

Ai climbed to her feet and walked out from between the bookcases. Tucking the red book into her arm, she glanced around and saw the only way to leave the room was through a wooden door with a frosted glass window. She had grown up in a world filled with magic, mystery, and monsters, and right now a two-inch barrier of plywood was filling her with more apprehension that she even knew was possible. But this was the future she had longed to meet ever since she was a toddler fascinated by her mother's fairy tales.

Ai took a single breath in hesitation. She stepped through the door, and entered another universe.

* * *

 _Author's note 1: Yumiko's aesthetic in this chapter is 20% Phantom Shiho from My HiME, 30% Mipha (except done better because I hate BotW while appreciating the idea of what it could have been), and 897.58% Lord Drakkon._

 _Author's note 2: I could never make up my mind how to handle the Byakko Seishi since this timeline is more funky than Lord Drakkon hanging out at a Sliders convention. Do I just use the canon Seishi and have them be born 100 years earlier? Do I write them out as totally different characters with the same star signs? Is Tatara gonna wind up in a creepy relationship where he's still 18 but his Miko is 13? So now you get ambiguous shadowpeople._


	20. The Great Bookala Escape

" _We're being tracked. Break formation."_

 **\- Michael Payton, Viper**

" _Ah. I've seen this trick before."_

 **\- Alec Connor, Viper**

" _No! I, Ray, am Vigo, shall rule the Earth! Begone, you pitiful half-men!"_

 **\- James, Die Hard**

 _"No, princess. Power is needed because there will always be conflict."  
_

 **\- Gilbert Durandal, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny**

* * *

Emergency sirens wailed behind Ai as she crouched into Byakko's fur. One hand grasped his striped black and white pelt for balance, while the other aimed her crossbow into the billowing black sky. She was sailing over the roofs of the city's tall glittering buildings and almost had the towering head of Tenkou in her sights. She was down to her last shot, but she only needed to hit one bullseye.

The massive demon suddenly twisted his wispy pale form toward Ai and thrashed her out of the air with his arm. Ai and Byakko crashed into the billboard screen showing the singing J-pop idol and fell to the street below in a violent shower of sparks. Tenkou swiped at the squadron of JASDF jets as they flew past him, instantly turning two of them into fiery explosions. He let out a guttural banshee scream that shook the city like an earthquake.

Ai climbed out of the rubble nursing her side. The exhausted human form of Byakko struggled through the debris next to her. She was wearing her full white and gold robes with a small round speaker tucked in her ear and a radio microphone hanging near her mouth. She pulled off the combination of ancient formality and modern technology with a natural grace. A tragic grace.

The pilots of the jet fighters were talking back and forth on her earphone as they regrouped. She could barely deduce there were only three left as a numb ringing sound pounded through her head. Lt. Bakura, from a Tokyo division that went by the name Aru's Reapers. Lt. Shirogane, from a base Ai had visited in Yokohama. And Capt. Pei Tan, a senior aviator specialist on loan from China's air force. Each of their planes was equipped with experimental maser cannons in place of gutted missile pods. Microwave electricity was the most effective form of weaponry this world had to use against Tenkou, and equipping a fleet of jets with these weapons only took some quick retrofitting by engineering staff and a little bit of design blessing from Ai. The technology already existed in prototype form; it had just never been used in this way before.

But now Ai looked up at the massive white specter looming over her feeling nothing but defeat. Her crossbow had landed a few yards away from her, but she didn't see the point of picking it back up again.

Tenkou had made it clear he intended on ruling both this world and Ai's in a new era of savagery and bloodlust. The countless people who lived in either world could be slaughtered on his demented whim. Ai was poised to lose everyone she knew from her universe, as well as the loving and accepting grandfather, grandmother, aunts and uncles, and extended family she had met here, after she had only spent the past week convincing them what really happened to Yumiko eight years ago. Tears started to trickle in her eyes.

Ai and the human Byakko were like sacred and profound reflections of the same idea. They were both little more than adolescents of their own races who found themselves uncertain and scared. She, a snow princess who had fooled herself into thinking she could be a Priestess. He, an immortal boy-king of the burning sands who was starting to age at the same rate as her as a result of being drawn into her summoning pact. This entire gamble that had been put in motion nearly four decades ago all depended on these young two. Mortals and gods alike were placing all of their hopes on them, and they were failing.

"How can it end like this?" Ai asked Byakko, shaking her head in denial. "I did everything I was supposed to. I passed every test I needed to. And I still can't beat him."

"You've done everything you can, Priestess," Byakko answered with a frail but kind complexion. "You've drawn this thread much further than I ever could on my own. I'm afraid my elder brother Genbu's strategy simply wasn't enough."

Ai threw herself into his shoulder and broke down into sobbing. Byakko tenderly wrapped his arm over her back and closed his eyes, unable to speak with anything but silence. Even as a god, he couldn't make her happy.

The three jets screamed low over their heads as the pilots made another pass with their masers.

Ai suddenly went quiet as a small thought crossed her mind. She gulped back her tears and sat up in Byakko's arms.

"Wait a minute," she said weakly. "I still have two more wishes."

She looked up at Tenkou's ghostly form as her eyes dried.

"This is all stupid. I don't need to turn myself into some great hero. Can't I just wish him to go away?"

Byakko lowered his head in eternal regret. There was no delicate way to explain the answer.

"I cannot fulfill that wish the way you imagine it, Priestess. This demon is too much like you. He simply doesn't abide by the laws set forth by either universe. I would only be sealing him away again and unleashing an ever greater disaster on one of your future generations."

Ai sank back into gloom, a pale snowflake melting into her long white robes. She briefly thought about bringing her Celestial Warriors here, but decided she'd only be cursing them to be crushed by Tenkou. The gears in her mind came to a hopeless standstill. Her eyes stared blankly at the ground.

"Then can I use one of my wishes to go back into the book? At least I'll die where I belong instead of this place."

Byakko looked at his Priestess with sad compassion and softened his voice. In all his infinite wisdom, he had no real words of support.

"If that is what you wish, sweet maiden, only recite the words. It's a choice I would let no one blame you for making. I have sworn to honor you in every way I can."

Ai's shoulders quaked. Two tiny puddles of tears formed in the dry concrete rubble as her head hung forward.

"Kai… jin…" she sighed in despair. She never realized having your wish granted could be so painful. "Take…"

Suddenly, the black sky burst in a shockwave of light. A roaring beast slowly descended from the clouds in a coat of shadowy black scales. It was long and slithered in waves as it moved through the night air, just like a giant snake. For an instant, Ai thought her mother had found a way to defy death, fate, the gods, and the universe itself so she could valiantly come down from the Heavens with Genbu to help her daughter in need. But when the beast brushed over the lights of the city's towering buildings, Ai could see its scales weren't black or green, but a much more vibrant color.

It was Seiryuu, the azure dragon.

Rays of beautiful morning sunrise descended on the city as a mystical bird's song chimed from somewhere above the clouds. A second enormous creature lowered from the sky as flecks of gold rained from its feathers. Its coat shined like red ceremonial fire that refused to go dim in any darkness.

The vermilion peacock, Suzaku.

" _Break formation! Break formation! We've got possible bogies inbound all over the place!"_ Ai heard Pei Tan's static voice screaming in her earphone. He nearly crashed his plane into a wall as he veered hard left to avoid Seiryuu.

 _"Kid, what the hell ARE those things?"_

"Friends," Ai said into her headset with a small and grateful whisper.

The phoenix and the dragon allied together and went straight to fighting their enemy in the billowing black sky. Tenkou was a vaporous white titan wrestling with two slashing and snapping primordial beasts.

As Ai got to her feet, two large orbs of light—one red, the other blue—appeared just in front of her. The Priestesses arrived from the Heavens.

35-year-old Tiantang had her father's short bronze hair combed in a tomboyish flair. Her summoner gown was comprised of a loose blue and white blouse, a long white dancing skirt with flower-like frills, and lavender garland around her elbows and hips. The two-piece garment left her waist uncovered and showing a few faint old stretch marks on her skin.

"Ai. I thought you were old enough to know you shouldn't go running off chasing big bad wolves by yourself." The Priestess of Seiryuu smirked.

20-year-old Madoka had her mother's long black hair tied into two innocent buns. She was wearing a sleeveless red robe tied with a gold sash. Transparent pink silk covered her slender arms and ankles. All the people of Hokkan swooned for her naive beauty, but she still hadn't taken a husband for herself. She seemed to have inherited more of her mother's love for food than her love for men, yet she miraculously always managed to keep her small figure. Truly a gift from the gods.

"Can we just wrap this up and go home?" the Priestess of Suzaku playfully yawned.

All of Ai's tears of grief instantly turned to tears of joy.

"You two. How did you…?" the Priestess of Byakko sputtered through her endless questions. " _What_ did you…? When…?"

"It was Zal's idea," Tiantang explained to her little sister. "We all figured you'd need a little extra help. He issued a decree in mom's name and everyone from Konan and Kutou came rushing to the palace to honor it. Celestial Guardians, the summoning scrolls, everything. Taiitsukun and those little green girls only needed a day to train us."

"But Tiantang, you summoned Seiryuu!" Ai exclaimed in shock. "How? You're not a-…"

"Seiryuu made an exception to the rules when he saw what was going on," Madoka replied. "Tiantang can only tell him where to fly. I used one of my wishes to bring us here."

They had to cut their reunion short as Tenkou's monstrous form shrieked in a terrifying voice, triggering another earthquake. The three Priestesses stood defiant on the ground with Byakko still recovering behind them, while Suzaku, Seiryuu, and the maser jets struggled with the apparition weaving his dark magic through the sky. It was anyone's guess where the demon would focus his hatred first.

He started by consuming Madoka.

Suzaku's talons were caught in flailing silver wisps when he made an unlucky dive for Tenkou's head. The tendrils quickly swarmed around his bright red body and wings, spreading over him like disease and threatening to break his neck.

Madoka stumbled to her knees clutching her heart. As Suzaku screeched in horror, Madoka screamed in pain and began to disappear. Her red aura returned, abruptly turned black, and then all trace of her vanished. Suzaku's panicked cries faded as black thunderclouds enveloped him like a cocoon.

Ai and Tiantang glanced at each other with no idea what to do. After a few seconds of eerie stillness, the thunderclouds stifling the bird god unraveled. A horrible new creature dove out of the sky like a black comet.

His enormous gnarled and corroded talons slammed into the pavement in front of the two Priestesses. He twitched his head unnaturally as he considered which of the two ceremonially-dressed oracles he should eviscerate first. The brilliant peacock had been tainted into a dark and vicious crow. The only color he had left was the vibrant red pulse beating for his heart, the same red pulse that beat even more brightly in Tenkou's chest.

The glow came from Madoka's lifeless imprisoned outline within Suzaku's mangled body. Tenkou had finally found the bride he so deeply desired.

Tiantang backed away from the black phoenix as if the mere sight of it were driving her mad. Ai's thoughts went creeping back well before her time as she remembered Aunt Filka describing what she had once gone through.

"Not this again," she sighed in aggravation under her breath.

Ai ran to retrieve her crossbow out of the concrete dust and instinctively aimed just above Suzaku's entangled human "heart." History told her all she had to do to save Madoka was cut the spell thread, the unholy vein, that linked her life to Tenkou's. It was an easy target that highlighted itself in bright red.

But this was the last shot Ai would ever be able to fire. Assembling her own blessed crossbow bolts for this battle had taken hours of preparation and now there was no time left. She hesitated as she desperately tried to weigh which was more important to her—the life of the sister she had cherished and looked up to since she was born, or the lives of everyone else.

Her mind regretfully settled on saving Madoka. She forced her index finger to stay steady as it locked around the crossbow trigger. Just before she let go of the shot, a hand rested on her shoulder like a gentle paw.

"Priestess, if you'll allow me, _**I**_ have the power to release the Priestess of Suzaku," Byakko said behind her. The subtle forcefulness in the god's voice made it clear he was just as angry and insulted as her.

She made the second wish without the slightest hesitation.

"Kaijin! Bring Madoka back!"

Tenkou and the black Suzaku lurched backwards with identical reactions of pain. The red glow inside Suzaku intensified, separated from his chest, and dropped back to the Earth. Suzaku returned to his normal vibrant colors as he flinched his neck like a pigeon after pulling its beak out of a bird bath.

Byakko rushed to change back into his great beast form so Madoka's plummeting body landed safely in his fur. He sat down in front of Ai like a white sphinx and tilted his back, lowering Madoka slowly to the ground.

Ai ran to her sister and knelt beside her. Groaning lightly, Madoka opened her eyes and stared up at the dreary sky. Her summoning gown stained with globs of ectoplasm looked almost as worse for wear as Ai's gown covered with battle scars and construction debris.

"Madoka! Are you okay?" Ai cried in concern. Her older sister grumbled quietly.

"Well, you know. Other than waking up feeling like some slimeball just finished having a little fun with me, I'm just wonderful."

She shook the awful feeling out of her mind and brought herself to smile again.

"I'll be fine, Ai. Now get back up there. Suzaku and I will back you up. End this thing like mom wanted you to."

Madoka and Ai stood up together. Ai picked up her crossbow again and made her way toward Byakko's bowing whiskered snout. Tiantang and Madoka positioned themselves under the hovering shadows of Seiryuu and Suzaku.

The three Priestesses coordinated their power by closing their eyes and meditating their spiritual auras toward one another. Their garlands floated weightlessly over their dresses as their bodies gently resonated with harmonized chi. The ceremony was made easier by the nature of all three mediums being closely blood related.

Ai tweaked the microphone on her mouth and used her profound connection to the universe to direct the air support team where to concentrate their weapons. Capt. Pei Tan and his few surviving men put all their trust in her.

The four forces attacked Tenkou in a ring. Seiryuu unleashed a clear blue beam with the force of a thousand water geysers from his mouth from the east. Suzaku shot vibrant red heat rays from the ends of his wings from the south. The maser team swept through with a wall of lightning from the north.

The towering specter of Tenkou reeled in agony, finally revealing the flaming purple jewel crowning his forehead. Byakko in his beast form barreled through the city's west block carrying Ai on his back. He pounced to the top of a row of buildings and used their height to launch himself through the sky.

Ai lined up her crossbow and took a leap of faith off of the tiger's snarling jaws. She fired her last magic bolt straight at the massive jewel that sustained Tenkou's spirit. There was a demonic scream and the deafening sound of glass shattering as the entire world was consumed in an intense white light.

* * *

 _Author's note: The current day timeline has always been fuzzy and cobbled together as I go along, but when I was brainstorming this chapter I settled on Yumiko Kata entered the Universe of the Four Gods in 1986 (because Fatal Frame) and her daughter Ai returned to make up for her stolen life in 1994 (because Viper)._

 _Author's note 2: It's a really big flat CRT monitor.  
_


	21. Best Man for the Job

" _Julian, you've got a problem. I'm never going to want to drive anything else."_

 **\- Joe Astor, Viper**

" _Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lurks in the hearts of men."_

 **\- Edward D. Morrison, Tales of Phantasia**

" _Mint has that quiet elegance about her, but I bet Arche fucks like a tiger."_

 **\- Klarth F. Lester, Tales of Phantasia**

 _"WELCOME BACK"_

 **\- Gunbuster**

* * *

The pale Priestess soundlessly walked through the palace cemetery with the trail of her robe dragging through the mist. She passed the graves of Hokkan's ruling family, tall black pillars with names carved in traditional vertical calligraphy. She stopped between two graves and glanced toward the inscriptions from under her white bridal hood.

TEMDAN ROWUN. AYULA ROWUN.

The names were strange to her, yet somehow seemed humble and kind. She felt a small affection for the distant past as she tried to imagine the two people lying here.

The Priestess stepped to the next pillar.

TEGIL ROWUN.

Her fingers slowly coiled into a fist. Her arm tensed in rising anger, but then she let go and moved on.

LIMDO ROWUN.

The Priestess sighed quietly, a tiny puff of steam escaping her lips in the chilly midnight air. Her manner became more playful and relaxed when she saw the name. Under her hood, a small smile crossed her lips.

She moved to the pillar beside Limdo's.

YUMIKO-GENBU ROWUN.

The white Priestess lowered her head and reached out to the black stone. Sadness lingered in her fingers as she tenderly traced the inscription. She collected herself and drew her hand away from the grave marker.

Ai told herself her grave marker better not be here for a long time. She had only just turned 18.

Her summoning robes had gradually changed and refined over the years as she grew into a young lady. Back when she had spent a short time in her mother's world, her ceremonial attire was little more than a fancy shrine smock with some jewelry thrown over her scrawny body. Now she wore white and gold silk that wrapped closely around her natural features and decorated her as a full-grown Priestess. A thin silk sash was tied in a bow behind her hips, with a single strand that dangled off the curved edge of her lower back so it mimicked a tiger's tail. Her entire head was covered under a hood weaved from transparent white silk, with two small golden beast ears pinned on top. Her gown radiated with female mystique while gently drawing to mind the god she worshiped.

Ai's sleeve rustled as Byakko delicately wrapped his arm through hers. He had been walking just beside his Priestess with his mouth in a subtle smile and his eyes shimmering gold under his five-clawed crown. His silver cuirass was polished to a shine over his immaculate white tunic.

Dim green lights started to appear in the dark air beside them. The first to materialize was the Yumiko in her faded emerald Priestess robes. Genbu materialized an inch to the right of his adopted daughter in his stern faced human form. The four ghostly Celestial Warriors who joined their Priestess in the afterlife appeared behind her, with Uruki standing the closest at her left side.

The diminutive form of Taiitsukun appeared hovering cross-legged in the air opposite to where Genbu's group had materialized. Her expression was sharp but courteous. A small cadre of giggling Nyan-Nyan attendants orbited around her.

" _Having second thoughts, Ai?"_ Yumiko's spirit asked softly to her daughter, watching her as she inspected the grave markers. Ai instantly smiled and shook her head.

"Never. It's just, if I'm going to spend the rest of existence watching over both universes from the sky, I think I should start getting to know the living _and_ the dead."

Genbu slightly narrowed his eyes. His attention was divided evenly between Ai and Byakko, watching how they stood together, observing how they interacted with so many small signs of affection. A innocent brush of the fingertips here, a playful grin there. In his mind, he factored everything as it related to the stability of the universe.

"I have my doubts. I knew my brother with his wild youth had the strongest emotions out of the four of us. I knew he and his Priestess had to become close in order to fulfill their duty, but this…" the Northern god faltered with concern, "This far exceeds even my calculations. This mingling of gods and mortals raises too much uncertainty. It changes too many things. I fear he's being too brash."

Yumiko was already starting to shake her head.

" _Genbu,"_ she said to her god-father with an almost impatient smirk, _"The only thing you ever calculated was getting me to have a baby with Uruki so I could smooth out all the politics here and_ _ **maybe**_ _have a descendant a few hundred years down the line who would be strong enough to beat Tenkou. My kids figured everything else out for themselves."_

The ghostly Priestess of Genbu shot a quick bashful glance toward Uruki's spirit. He smiled back at her through his trimmed graying beard. She nodded toward Byakko and her daughter while she continued to plead their case.

" _Ai's been thinking about this every day for the past five years. If she really feels taking Byakko as her husband is the only thing that will make her happy, and Byakko is willing to give up his own divinity to stay with her, why should we trample on their love? Don't tell me you always wanted to bring them together just so you could tear them apart as soon as they served their purpose. You might be some immortal alien in a turtle costume, but I know there's kindness in you. You've shown it to me before."_

She tilted her head toward Genbu, coyly pressing him to remember.

" _Besides, it usually worked out okay in Greek mythology. There aren't too many things that can make a mother prouder than knowing her daughter won the heart of a god."_

Turning back to Ai with a wide smile, Yumiko's ghost said, _"This was your story all along, Ai. I was just the rough draft."_

Genbu cautiously glanced across the black pillars toward Taiitsukun.

"And what of you, Jade Empress?"

"They seem like the perfect match to me," Taiitsukun replied. "It wouldn't be fair to write Ai off as another ordinary mortal girl after everything she's done, and I wouldn't mind seeing an extra little star twinkling in the Western skies."

Shifting his eyes away, Genbu thought.

"What counsel did my middle siblings offer?"

"The usual," Taiitsukun shrugged as she hovered. "You know how they keep to themselves when there's no war going on. 'I have honored my Priestess's wishes. Only Byakko can decide how to honor his,' is how Suzaku put it, if I recall."

Genbu sighed as he thought. The longer he hesitated, the more his icy shell of indecision melted away. Then he offered a simple nod.

"So it's settled," the Northern god said, gently raising his voice. "I welcome your Ascension to our heavenly palace with open doors, Priestess of Byakko. You shall spend your remaining mortal days here with my brother always by your side. And when your chapter in this history reaches its final pages, he shall carry you on his back to the Heavens so you can be always united as god and goddess. May you find everlasting happiness in divinity."

Ai rested her palm against the shining silver plate that covered Byakko's immortal heart. Byakko lifted away the clear silk hood of Ai's robe so nothing could hide her human beauty. They wrapped their arms around each other and nestled their heads together so their lips sealed the distance between the Earth and the Sky.

As Ai and Byakko kissed, their overflowing spiritual energy made them gently shimmer like two novas. Their light slowly illuminated the cemetery, revealing the massive audience that surrounded them. Thousands of living witnesses from all four countries—Ai's brothers and sisters, Aunt Filka, Celestial Warriors representing every god, royal courtiers and citizens all alike—were gathered around the graves holding a sea of dimly burning candles with white vigil flames.

At this moment, Ai became a true prophetess. She knew exactly what her future had in store.

* * *

 _Author's note: I mean, I think this was pretty obvious for the past two chapters, but I wanted to make it official and end the story on the high note._

 _Author's note 2: I almost named this chapter Split Decision. ALMOST._


	22. Hogday Afternoon

" _Maybe you got something back out of all of this."_

 _—_ " _Like what?"_

" _Michael Payton would have died in jail, or on the highway, or in some Outfit double-cross. Any way you look at it, he was going nowhere fast."_

 **\- Viper**

" _No man should know too much about his own destiny."_

 **\- Doc Brown, Back to the Future**

 _"Call it fate. Call it luck. Call it karma. I believe that everything happens for a reason."_

 **\- Bill Murray, Ghostbusters 1**

" _Well, better late than never."_

 **\- Cheech Marin, Ghostbusters 2  
**

* * *

A woman in an SDF uniform was sitting at her desk swamped in bureaucratic paperwork. Her fingers tapped against the tabletop in idle trepidation. Her expression was distant and stressful, the look of someone who had to carry the weight of the universe on her shoulders alone.

Her office door opened. A young man walked toward her desk. The woman put her anxieties on a backburner and smiled up from her chair.

"Ah. Lt. Shirogane. I'm glad you could take a few minutes out of your training schedule to see me. No, please, don't worry about all the saluting. Make yourself comfortable. We're all casual here."

The lieutenant sat down in a chair in front of the woman's desk. She leaned forward with her fingers forming a steeple under her chin.

"I would have preferred to talk to the commander for the Tokyo counter-offensive, but he was called back to the mainland yesterday. But you were there as well. You saw everything with your own eyes. I'm sure we can talk about this like two responsible adults."

Her voice slightly lowered.

"I shouldn't have to inform you everything we're about to discuss is on a need-to-know basis. But I feel like I might go out of my mind if I keep all of it to myself."

"Yes, ma'am. I'd prefer to keep my flight wings," the lieutenant said with a nervous smirk.

"Good. I like men I can trust. Now tell me, Lt. Shirogane, what do you know about revisionist history?"

"Well, uh…" Shirogane paused to think. "It's how people usually wind up remembering things. Who gets called the good guy and bad guy always depends on who wins the war."

The woman was shaking her head before he was even done speaking.

"Textbook fluff. It takes on a whole different meaning when you specialize in parallel worlds physics."

She chuckled under her breath.

"It's the whole reason I bought that little girl's story so quickly. Interdimensional travel, beings from Heaven, books with minds of their own. All of it. These were the sorts of things I've already been experimenting with for years on my own time. I've just never had a reason to use it in a battlefront scenario, until adorable little Ai gave me a reason. I'm positive that somewhere, in some other pocket of space-time, you and I are sitting in this same office talking about something completely different, but almost the same."

"And the maser cannons? The prototypes came from you?" the lieutenant asked.

"That was Dr. Mikage's handiwork. The brains in his outfit were able to test the girl's powers after she consented to a lab demonstration. They figured out we could actually emulate what she was doing to some degree with our current technology. My department just handled the logistical side of things."

"I'm guessing you found out more about who she was. That's why I'm here."

"Not her, exactly. But I've been doing a great deal of analysis on where she came from."

The woman eased into her chair as she recited everything from memory.

"The bulk of my data starts at Morioka all the way back in 1923. A novelist named Einosuke Okuda returns to Japan after spending the previous year in China studying a scroll dating from prehistory. It was being kept by a cloister of monks. Terrible condition, it would have turned to dust in a light breeze. Okuda was working on translating the Chinese text into a Japanese novel while his wife is struggling with tuberculosis. With all the scroll's talk about communicating with gods and granting any wish the reader wants, he must have lost the ability to separate fantasy from reality and thought he could use it as a shortcut to prevent his wife's fate."

She tucked her fingers under her chin as her eyes shifted in thought.

"His daughter is left to tend for her mother and the family home by herself. But shortly before the wife passes away, Okuda simply stops working on the book to be with his family. One day it's his entire obsession, the next he's begging for their forgiveness. It's like whatever was drawing all his attention on that scroll and driving him to transcribe it simply… let go."

The woman sighed quietly in suspicion.

"Okuda passed his draft of the manuscript over to an editing house when he was finished. They apparently took some creative liberties when they got to the details about the political situation in the country where the novel takes place. The emperor and the king from Okuda's first draft were combined into a single character. The old king died much earlier in the story and never became a central villain. The psychological effects of the wasting curse that were meant to drive the old king's insanity were rewritten for one of the Urumiya twins. That one suffered from a less advanced version of the curse in the original Chinese script. With no father-son conflict, the rebellious son grew up to become a mopey warrior poet who pined for a celestial maiden to inspire him. The ice age subplot was expanded from a randomly occurring phenomenon to a man-made disaster. But the basic facts and the tone of the story all remained the same. Everything went back to equilibrium. The only thing it was missing was a heroine to lead the drama to a conclusion. If you ask me, the book itself is a reactionary force that only let the editors change exactly what it wanted. It was letting them set up the ideal conditions for… someone else. It was modernizing itself."

"What happened to the translator after that?" the lieutenant asked.

"He went on a sabbatical after his wife's death. He started researching for his next book in Osaka and never touched the manuscript again. His daughter ended up loving the warmer climate after they moved. She's still living there with her own family. She's 87 now, I believe."

The woman closed her eyes as her fingers tapped against her cheek.

"Now Okuda's research assistant at the time was a Mr. Osugi. Osugi relocated his family from Tokyo to Osaka to help with the new assignment shortly after Okuda handed off his draft of the manuscript. Nothing about this would strike me as odd on its own, except Okuda ended up moving his wife and 8-year-old daughter out of the city a week before the Kanto earthquake."

"My god. They almost…" Shirogane gasped.

"The thought had crossed my mind," the woman nodded slightly. "But Osugi continued to assist Okuda on all of his later novels until they both retired. His daughter Suzuno grew up to open an archery school. Okuda's daughter apparently used some of her family's publishing fortunes to help her when she was just starting out. Over the years, it's had separate chapters sprout up in Osaka, Nagasaki, Naha, Sapporo, Kyoto, Sado, Yokohama, and Tokyo."

The woman considered something for a moment.

"The manuscript turned up in an excavation of one of the editors' houses a few weeks after the earthquake. All the reports say it was the only item on site that hadn't been completely destroyed, and it still looked like Okuda had just finished binding it. After 1924, it passes hands between various collections for close to 50 years, then it lands in Tokyo Metropolitan's storage section just after it opens in 1973. It's been sitting there ever since."

She slowly swiveled in her chair so she was directly facing Shirogane. Her mouth disappeared behind the steeple of her hands.

"Tuesday, September 23, 1986 is the day Ai said her mother was drawn into the book. There had to be a reason why. It couldn't be _just_ because the book was waiting for the first plucky daydreaming girl who stumbled by. There's so many things I'd love to ask her family, but I can't just drag them in here and reveal the entire operation. And you know how I work, Shirogane. The only opinion that matters to me is my own. I'm never happy unless I can follow the cosmic breadcrumbs for myself."

The woman rolled her head back into her office chair in exhaustion.

"I spent days going through star alignments and weather anomalies and every geologic record known to man for that year. I consulted with three different clairvoyants independently of each other and none of them picked up a damn thing. Then I remembered, I was skipping the basics."

She pulled herself back to her desk.

"Yumiko went to school in Taito, but she used the Tokyo Library to do all her studying. A girl her age, I figured she must have taken one of the transits almost every day."

The woman reached into a stack of folders to her right. She shuffled something across the desk toward the lieutenant.

"That's when I pulled an old newsreel dated September 24, 1986. Look at this headline."

"A subway derailment in Tokyo?"

"The precinct's findings say it was a suspension failure on the number 4 car while it was making a northbound turn. It happened Tuesday night. 6 fatalities. 21 others hospitalized. Now compare that to this passenger list I had Intelligence piece together."

More shuffling. Then the lieutenant's heart skipped a beat.

"Ka… ta Yumiko? But that was hours after she found the book. How could she be in two places at once?"

The woman sighed in deep apprehension.

"Now you're starting to see what's been putting me on the edge, Shirogane. I had to do some extra digging to figure out who's data was off. It turns out she always used a pre-stamped transit card. She was supposed to be on that train, but she didn't swipe in at her usual time. You and I both know why. That's one of the first things the investigators put together eight years ago when they suspected a kidnapping. They ruled out she was in the crash, but then... they had no idea where to look after that. From the sound of the reports, the parents were hysterical. Having her disappear without a trace was worse than finding a body so they could at least get closure."

The woman's chair made a low creaking sound as she leaned back from her desk.

"She was never going to make it home that day," she said ominously, slowly shaking her head in regret. "At fifteen years and ten months old, she would have been the youngest victim of the crash."

"Genbu saved her?" Shirogane said in disbelief.

"That depends. If you consider whisking her off to a parallel dimension she doesn't belong to, embroiled in bloody religious wars and fratricide, and forcing her to fight for her own existence so her spirit stays trapped there to keep the causality loop between his world and ours closed as 'saving her'… then yes, I suppose that's exactly what he did."

A tiny smile crossed her mouth.

"Car 4. Northbound. 21 injuries. 7 deaths. The girl who thought she belonged in another time. He found a moment where the numbers of our two universes matched perfectly, and he reacted. Clever bastard."

"Where's this all going, General?" the lieutenant said with slight unease.

"Nowhere. In my professional opinion, it ended with Ai and Tenkou. But I'm making sure the book stays with us with the highest security priority. We have to preserve it so no harm comes to it, or anything that happens to be living inside it. We owe Ai and her mother that much."

In a final thought, she looked downward with her lips pursed in a remorseful frown.

"It's a shame Yumiko contracted that disease in the blood transfusions she needed after Ai's birth. It could have been a lot of different things considering the faulty ancient medical practices they used, but I assume it was hepatitis. It must have slowly deteriorated her liver for the next ten years. When she caught pneumonia, her immune system just couldn't handle it and everything shut down. Maybe I could have met her along with Ai if her life hadn't been cut short. But then again, Ai wouldn't exist if Yumiko hadn't pushed herself to have another child. The original script called for whoever wound up in the Priestess of Genbu role to be sacrificed so the world could live on in her wake. He really tried, but I guess there are some forms of karma even Genbu couldn't beat. At least he managed to delay her fate by three decades so she could live out her dream life. Now that she's taken Tenkou's place as the primary spirit from our world anchored to the book, I don't think a situation like Tenkou can ever happen again."

"Girls from magic dimensions coming here to fight giant monsters. Dead girls from our world getting sucked there," Shirogane shook his head in bewilderment. "This is too much for me."

"I thought you'd feel that way, Lieutenant," the woman said. She slowly swiveled her chair so the back faced her desk. Her head was hanging low as she smirked to herself.

"Just be glad you don't know half as much about these things as I do."

* * *

 _Author's note: Hey you guys wanna chill out and watch Freejack? Maybe some Neo Ranga?_


End file.
